COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees held protests across the world's largest refugee settlement on Tuesday, Aug. 25, marking nine years since a Myanmar military crackdown uprooted more than a million people and demanding urgent action on deteriorating conditions in the camps.
The demonstrations were organized by the United Council of Rohingya, which said the rallies were held to honor the dead and draw attention to what it called an "ongoing humanitarian crisis." More than 1.2 million Rohingya now live across roughly 30 overcrowded camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, the majority having fled Myanmar's Rakhine State during the military offensive of August 2017.
Sabikunnahar, 32, who escaped Myanmar that year, described memories that remain raw. "Beheading our near and dear ones, setting fire to our homes and evicting us from our land — the military occupied our land around nine years ago," she said. "On this day, my heart gets torn apart. Look at my eyes — they are still wet with tears for my country."
Conditions inside the camps have worsened as international funding has been cut and food rations reduced, according to aid organizations working in Cox's Bazar. Children account for more than half the camp population. Golam Mostofa, who leads Save the Children's operations in the camps, said an entire generation is growing up in exile with no path to safety. "Yet instead of seeing progress towards safety, rights and a lasting solution, families are facing worsening hunger, fewer opportunities and deepening uncertainty about their future," he said.
Save the Children projected that one in three refugees will face crisis-level hunger or worse between September and December. The World Food Programme provides food aid to the camps, but refugees said rations run out well before the end of each month.
Moulovi Abdus Salam, 41, said his family fled Myanmar after armed men "raped our women, killed my brothers and looted my shop." He said food rations in the camps last "a maximum of 20 days," leaving families without enough to eat for the remainder of each month. Salam expressed doubt that a proposed repatriation process would protect Rohingya rights once back in Myanmar. "My request to the international community is to create the conditions for us to return home," he said.
Sikandar, 75, who has lived in the camps since 2017, was less hopeful about any return. "There is no hope for us to return home. There are no realistic plans that can be implemented," he said, adding that humanitarian assistance — including food from the World Food Programme and healthcare from other organizations — remained insufficient. "It's hard to live in a camp. None of us is living here comfortably — not a single one of us."
Growing desperation has pushed some refugees onto dangerous sea routes. Aid workers and refugee representatives described the sea journeys as a direct consequence of deteriorating camp conditions and blocked repatriation prospects.
Bangladesh's government has said it is overstretched by the scale of the refugee population and has repeatedly called for the safe and dignified return of Rohingya people to Myanmar. Those calls have produced no agreed framework for voluntary repatriation that satisfies the refugees' demands for guaranteed rights and physical safety inside Myanmar, which has been under military rule since a coup in February 2021.
