RCOA Advocacy Coordinator Dr Graham Thom reflects on his visit to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees are facing further deprivation due to recent foreign aid cuts.
The largest refugee camp in the world is not in the Middle East or North Africa, but here in the Asia-Pacific.
A sprawling network of camps in the south- eastern city of Cox’s Bazar, together they make up a labyrinthine tent city, home to more than 1.1 million Rohingya refugees. Its inhabitants have fled decades of extreme violence at the hands of Myanmar’s military government, in what the UN describes as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.
In June, RCOA sent a delegation to Cox’s Bazar including Dr Graham Thom, former Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster, and 2024 Young Woman of the Year and Rohingya refugee Noor Azizah.
The group spent four days inside the camp, meeting community members and visiting Australian Government funded projects including hospitals and women’s centres.
This visit, the third for Dr Thom, was prompted by new developments in Bangladesh and Myanmar, as well as drastic recent cuts to international aid.
While the brutal conflict in Myanmar continues with no end in sight, the world’s attention has increasingly focused elsewhere.
Countries have rightly also needed to respond to the unfolding humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza.
While assistance for the Rohingya has been dwindling steadily, this slow decline has been dwarfed by the Trump administration’s announcement in January to freeze all US foreign aid. While some funding for “lifesaving” programs has been restored, most of these cuts are still in effect today. The USA has been joined by Germany and the UK in dramatically slashing aid this year.
In response, UN-led operations have been forced to scale back all but the most crucial services within the camps. Shortly before our visit, 6,500 schools were shut down, leaving 300,000 children suddenly without access to education.
June falls in the middle of Cox’s Bazar’s relentless monsoon season.
On arrival, we were met with the sight of thousands of children crowding the narrow, muddy streets, drenched in the hammering rain.
With nowhere else to go, these children are exposed to the often lawless nature of the camps, left vulnerable to trafficking, exploitation, and forced marriages.
At this time of year, floods and landslides are frequent, contaminating water supplies and fuelling outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.
In a cruel twist of fate, the funding cuts coincide with a promising change in Bangladesh’s treatment of Rohingya people. Since its instalment in August 2024, Bangladesh’s interim government has signalled a willingness to address previously off-limits issues, including the construction of durable shelters and improved access to education and livelihoods.
Despite its generosity in hosting vast numbers of refugees, Bangladesh has always insisted that the Rohingya must eventually return to Myanmar. Rohingya are confined to the camps in flimsy temporary shelters, barred from work and basic rights. The aid cuts have meant that attempts to improve conditions in the camps are being abandoned or withdrawn.
Without access to work or education, keeping the young men in the camps away from negative coping mechanisms has been a challenge.
One positive initiative we participated in was the Sports for Protection program. A community-led program for girls and boys, the initiative uses soccer for social development and learning life skills.
With Craig, a former Socceroo as part of our delegation, getting involved in the games was naturally non-negotiable.
Playing soccer in the pouring rain was an unforgettable experience. Despite the benefit of such programs, however, without broader systemic access to livelihoods and education, we risk losing an entire generation of Rohingya young people.
The greatest threat facing Rohingya who have never known peace in their lifetime is the deteriorating situation in Myanmar itself.
The Arakan Army (AA) is the military wing of the Rakhine ethnic group, the majority in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Their ongoing persecution against the Rohingya has included the targeted killing and imprisonment of civilians. As of December 2024, the AA has complete control of the 271km Myanmar side of the border with Bangladesh.
In another cruel twist, Myanmar’s military is sending armed squads undercover to roam Rohingya camps, forcibly recruiting men and boys to fight across the border.
Even before the AA’s advance, the Myanmar- Bangladesh border has been plagued by gunfire, shelling and landmines, killing civilians attempting to escape and disabling hundreds more.
Handicap International has been assisting people with disabilities in Rohingya camps since 1997. While observing their work, we met a boy of around three, learning to kick a soccer ball with his newly fitted prosthetic leg. He and his family had fled across the border, where they faced a no man’s land littered with deadly obstacles. The boy’s father was struck and killed–his tiny son escaping with one leg blown apart.
For the Rohingya, returning to their homes seems further away than ever.
When refugees speak out, I’m going to listen. We can’t afford silence, because our people are still waiting for justice, for dignity, for freedom.
— Noor Azizah, Rohingya advocate and NSW Young Woman of the Year 2024
So, given the scale of the crisis, what can we do going forward?
Australia has continued to maintain its aid funding, and has a number of opportunities to build on its contribution.
First, there is the upcoming UN High Level Conference on the Rohingya. Second, Australia and Indonesia are due to meet on the Bali Process, a forum focused on regional cooperation related to irregular migration. Finally, the UNHCR will host a high-level meeting to review commitments pledged at the Global Refugee Forum.
It is crucial that Australia uses these meetings not only to reaffirm its own obligations, but also to encourage other countries to do the same. Ultimately, the Rohingya wish to return to Myanmar in safety, with their full rights restored. Until then, the international community must not forget them.
