While the Myanmar government takes significant strides in political reform, Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh fear their condition may not change any time soon.
They are skeptical about a string of reform moves by the Burmese government, saying they are not aware of any real improvement in the conditions which forced them to flee their country.
“The situation has not improved,” Mostak Ahmad, 35, an undocumented Rohingya refugee who fled 10 years ago, told IRIN. “We were hopeful during the 2010 election as we were given voting powers but now we are frustrated.”
Since taking office in March 2011, President U Thein Sein, a former general, has released hundreds of political prisoners, legalized labour unions, eased censorship, held talks with Washington and London, and signed a ceasefire with ethnic Karen rebels – a major step towards ending one of the world’s longest-running ethnic insurgencies.
But for Rohingya, an ethnic group who fled to Bangladesh en masse from neighboring Myanmar years earlier, there is little optimism.
Fazal Karim, 40, who fled to avoid forced labor, had recently spoken with his relatives in Myanmar.“ They said that in some cases the situation had worsened,” he said.
Rohingyas – an ethnic, linguistic and religious (Muslim) minority who fled persecution decades ago – are caught between a rock and a hard place, activists say.
Under Burmese law, the Rohingyas are de jure stateless, but they fare little better in Bangladesh.
Most Rohingyas in Bangladesh have no legal rights and few employment opportunities. According to Refugees International, they live in squalor, receive limited aid and are vulnerable to arrest, extortion and even physical attack.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are some 200,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, of whom only 28,000 are documented and living in two government camps assisted by the agency. Close to 11,000 live at the Kutupalong camp, with another 17,000 farther south at Nayapara – both within 2km of Myanmar.
Read more of the story here at the IRIN news service:
BANGLADESH: Rohingyas wary of Burmese reforms
