0 Rohingyas in Bangladesh

Thousands of Rohingyas from Burma came to Bangladesh in 1978 and again  in 1991 as refugees. They were refugees because their condition concided with the relevant criteria laid down by the 1951 Convention Relating to the status of Refugees and the 1976 Protocol Relating to the status of Refugees Although Bangladesh is not a signatory to the Convention and the Protocol, Memorandums of Understanding were signed by the UNHCR with both the Government of Bangladesh and Burma and on the basic of these ‘understandings’ UNHCR has taken over the situation concerning these Rohingya refugees.

          In 1978 some 200,000 Rohingyas crossed the border into Bangladesh. At that time the Bangladesh Government claimed that there were as many as 252,000 Rohingya refugees while Burma acknowledged a number of 143,900 who , according to the Burmese authorities, absconded to Bangladesh in order to escape the Nagmin Project. Following the negotiations between the two governments in June-July, 1978, an agreement was reached on the repatriation of the refugees to Burma. The repatriation operation  commenced on 1st August. 1978 and ended on 29th December, 1978 and involved repatriation of total of 187,250 refugees (Abrar, 1995)                                  Read more