Reorienting Bangladesh’s Rohingya Policy: Emphasizing Resettlement Besides Repatriation

This article argues that the government of Bangladesh should actively work on resettling a section of the Rohingya refugees and Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs) in third countries while keeping the effort to repatriate the Rohingya to the state of Rakhine in Myanmar. The resettlement option needs to be encouraged for the protracted Rohingya refugee situation for the following four reasons: (a) resettlement will allow the Rohingya to get access to basic rights, notably access to education and employment; (b) an educated Rohingya diaspora community can keep contributing to speaking for their community, which might also lessen the burden for Bangladesh in internationalizing the Rohingya issue; (c) once they are resettled, they can be a resource or asset for their community and can contribute to rebuilding their community back in Rakhine; (d) on top of all, refugees will end up having a state. This article argues that developed countries need to come forward to make the burden-sharing an evident reality by resettling a large number of the Rohingya from Bangladesh.