Asian Insider S1E100: Rohingya refugees have very little hope for a better future, say experts
Rohingya remain the world’s largest number of stateless people, with over one million driven out of Myanmar living in camps in Bangladesh.
Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the biggest global talking points with expert guests.
Life for the over one million Rohingya in refugee camps in Bangladesh continues to become increasingly intolerable, with food rations down to 27 US cents a day, and little or no hope for a return to their homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
This is where they have, over the years, been driven out from, in successive waves of pogroms, which refer to an organised massacre of a particular ethnic group. In Rakhine state, life gets no better either. Earlier in August, at least 27 Rohingya drowned when their boat sank offshore earlier this month as they tried to make the perilous journey to Malaysia across treacherous open seas.
In his 100th episode, host Nirmal Ghosh chats with his guests - Mr Johannes van der Klaauw - the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' representative in Bangladesh, and Mr Richard Horsey, senior advisor on Myanmar at the International Crisis Group.
Highlights (click/tap above):
1:40 Mr Van der Klaauw describes the ground situation in the Rohingya camps and what the international community needs to understand
8:35 Mr Horsey on hope and an extremely difficult policy challenge for the Rohingya, if Myanmar's Rakhine state is not even fixed in the first place itself
15:25 Status of moves to repatriate refugees back to Rakhine, or resettlement in a "third" country
20:40 Dangerous gambles by the Rohingya to reach other countries
Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh (nirmal@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Fa’izah Sani
Edited by: Fa’izah Sani
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