Rohingya Files - Part 3
RC-S1
This child was born here. This is the only home they know. Cox's Bazar. 1.1 million people. The largest refugee settlement on earth. Eight years on.
The Rohingya genocide of August 2017 drove 742,000 people to Bangladesh in five months. Over a million now live in Cox's Bazar, the largest refugee settlement on earth. They cannot legally work. They cannot leave. Bangladesh has not granted citizenship. WFP food rations were cut in 2023 due to a $125 million funding shortfall and by November 2023 child acute malnutrition exceeded the WHO emergency threshold. The February 2021 Myanmar military coup returned the genocide's perpetrators to power, making verified safe returns impossible. Zero have been documented. The Arakan Army, which now controls most of Rakhine State, has itself committed documented abuses against remaining Rohingya. The statelessness created by the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law now passes to a second generation born in Bangladesh with no legal nationality anywhere.
RC-S2
Cox's Bazar · 1.1 million · Largest refugee settlement on earth · No work rights · No citizenship02 / 07
1.1 million people. Every hill covered. The largest refugee settlement on earth. Not temporary. Eight years and counting.
UNHCR documents over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar district in Bangladesh, concentrated in Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas. The settlement, comprising 34 registered camps and several unregistered sites, covers approximately 6,500 acres of hilly terrain and is the largest refugee settlement in the world by population. Bangladesh has hosted the Rohingya since the first major clearance operations in 1978 but has consistently refused to grant them citizenship or permanent settlement rights. UNHCR Cox's Bazar situation reports, unhcr.org.
The Rohingya in Cox's Bazar cannot legally work outside the camps and are prohibited from relocating to other parts of Bangladesh. They are legally dependent on humanitarian assistance for all basic needs. The minimum expenditure basket for food needs alone was documented at approximately $17.60 per person per month in 2023, against a WFP food voucher that was reduced to $8. Bangladesh has maintained that the Rohingya are temporary guests and has at times blocked NGO access and restricted humanitarian operations. UNHCR, WFP Bangladesh documentation.
Source: UNHCR, Cox's Bazar situation reports, unhcr.org · WFP Bangladesh, wfp.org · ReliefWeb, Bangladesh Rohingya displacement tracking
RC-S3
WFP ration cuts 2023 · $125 million funding gap · 15.1 percent child malnutrition · WHO emergency threshold exceeded03 / 07
March 2023. WFP cut the food ration from $12 to $8 per person per month. By November: 90 percent could not afford adequate food.
WFP Bangladesh announced on February 28 2023 that it was forced to reduce its General Food Assistance voucher value from $12 to $10 per person per month starting March 1 2023, due to a $125 million funding shortfall. WFP Country Director Dom Scalpelli called it a devastating blow to the Rohingya and an equally devastating blow to the humanitarian community. A second cut reduced the voucher to $8 per person per month in June 2023. WFP monitoring showed that the proportion of Rohingya households with acceptable food consumption fell from 79 percent in June 2023 to 10 percent by November 2023. WFP, wfp.org, February 2023 and May 2023.
By November 2023 child acute malnutrition in the camps reached 15.1 percent, the highest rate since the 2017 influx and exceeding the WHO emergency threshold of 15 percent. WFP restored rations to $10 in January 2024 and eventually to $12 after donor contributions, but by April 2026 programs were only 19 percent funded for the year. AP reported on April 1 2026 that food assistance was again being slashed for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, with some households receiving as little as $7 per month. The cycle of cuts reflects structural dependence on donor funding with no alternative livelihood mechanism permitted. AP, April 1 2026 · WFP, January 2024.
Source: WFP, wfp.org, February 28 2023, May 2023, January 2024 · AP, April 1 2026 · WHO emergency nutrition classification · ReliefWeb, May 2024
RC-S4
Children born in the camp · Stateless by inheritance · Education gap · UNICEF documented · Second generation04 / 07
This child was born in Bangladesh. They have never been to Myanmar. They carry the statelessness of 1982 without having spent a day in the country that made them stateless.
Children born to Rohingya parents in Bangladesh inherit the legal statelessness created by Myanmar's 1982 Burma Citizenship Law. Bangladesh does not grant citizenship to children born to Rohingya refugees. Myanmar's 1982 law provides no mechanism to recognise children born outside the country as citizens. These children hold the legal nationality of no state. UNICEF Bangladesh documents the education gap in the camps, noting that while informal learning centres operate within the settlements, Rohingya children cannot access the formal Bangladeshi education system and their qualifications are not recognised by either Bangladesh or Myanmar. UNICEF Bangladesh, education in emergencies documentation.
AP reported on April 1 2026 that foreign aid cuts in 2025 led to the closure of schools operating in the camps, contributing to a surge in child kidnapping, child marriage and child labour. Programs supporting Rohingya children were approximately half funded in 2025 and only 19 percent funded in 2026. The closure of informal education infrastructure in the camps means that an entire cohort of Rohingya children, a second generation with no direct experience of Myanmar, is growing up with no formal education access in either country. Amnesty International, August 2025 · AP, April 1 2026.
Source: UNICEF Bangladesh, education in emergencies documentation · Amnesty International, August 2025, amnesty.org · AP, April 1 2026
RC-S5
February 1 2021 coup · Min Aung Hlaing · Named for genocide prosecution in 2019 · Now head of state · Zero safe returns05 / 07
February 1 2021. The Myanmar military staged a coup. The same generals named by the UN for genocide prosecution are now the government.
On February 1 2021 the Myanmar military staged a coup, detaining State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and declaring a year-long state of emergency. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar armed forces, assumed control of the state. Min Aung Hlaing was named in the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission's final report A/HRC/42/50 in September 2019 as one of six military commanders who should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in relation to the 2017 Rohingya clearance operations. He is now head of the military government. BBC, February 1 2021 · UN FFM A/HRC/42/50, September 2019.
The coup ended the civilian-military transition government that had been in place since 2016 and consolidated military control over all branches of the Myanmar state. It made verified safe return for Rohingya refugees to Myanmar effectively impossible. The guarantees of citizenship restoration, accountability and physical safety that UNHCR requires as conditions for voluntary repatriation cannot be provided by a government led by commanders named for genocide prosecution. Verified safe returns to Myanmar remain at zero. Amnesty International documented in August 2025 that conditions in Rakhine State remain incompatible with safe and voluntary return. Amnesty International, August 2025.
Source: UN Fact-Finding Mission, A/HRC/42/50, September 2019, ohchr.org · BBC, February 1 2021 · Amnesty International, August 2025, amnesty.org
RC-S6
Arakan Army · Controls Rakhine State since 2025 · Documented abuses against Rohingya · Same people · Different armed force06 / 07
The Arakan Army now controls Rakhine State. The military that committed genocide has been replaced by another armed force. The Rohingya who stayed face the same pattern.
The Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed organisation that is part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a major offensive against Myanmar military forces in Rakhine State in late 2023. By mid-2025 the Arakan Army had taken control of most of Rakhine State, including Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships where the majority of the 2017 clearance operations took place. Human Rights Watch documented in 2025 that the Arakan Army committed serious abuses against Rohingya communities in Rakhine State during and after its offensive, including killings, arson and forced displacement. Human Rights Watch, Rakhine State 2025.
Amnesty International's August 2025 report documented that Rohingya communities remaining in Rakhine State face a new armed actor committing documented abuses while the Myanmar military, now fighting the Arakan Army, has also continued to commit violations against Rohingya. The Rohingya in Rakhine State are caught between two armed forces, neither of which has demonstrated protection for Rohingya communities. The Arakan Army's control of the townships that were the site of the 2017 genocide has not improved conditions for remaining Rohingya. ICG Myanmar documentation 2025. Amnesty International, August 2025.
Source: Amnesty International, August 2025, amnesty.org · Human Rights Watch, Rakhine State 2025, hrw.org · ICG Myanmar conflict documentation 2025
RC-S7
The question. Not a claim. Series final tomorrow.07 / 07
She was born in the camp or arrived as a child in 2017. She has never been to Myanmar. The 1982 law made her parents stateless. Bangladesh has not given her citizenship. She holds the legal nationality of no country. What is the name for the system that produced that outcome?
Tomorrow: the series final. The Gambia v. Myanmar at the ICJ, November 11 2019. ICJ provisional measures January 23 2020. The US formally declared genocide March 21 2022. The ICC Prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing in November 2024. No one has been tried. No one has been convicted. She is still in the camp. Part 4 of 4. Series final.
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