The Rohingya dilemma: Exploring the challenges of local integration in Bangladesh

Abstract

The forced migration of the long-persecuted Rohingya minority group from the Rakhine State of Myanmar has created a chronic refugee crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh. This paper examines the potential for, and challenges to, local integration of the Rohingya into Bangladesh. Based on interview data, this paper analyses the factors that facilitated the de facto local integration of Rohingya into Bangladeshi society prior to the huge influx of Rohingya in 2017. It argues that cultural proximity factors (language, culture and religious beliefs), similarities in physical appearance, and intermarriage facilitated the establishment of robust social bonds and the subsequent acquisition of identity documents among those Rohingya who arrived earlier. Furthermore, the paper elucidates the formidable challenges to the de facto local integration process experienced by Rohingya who arrived during or after August 2017. These challenges go beyond heightened governmental restrictions, extending to an escalation of criminal activities within refugee camps, heightened levels of insecurity with the host community and a pervasive undercurrent of mistrust. The predicament is further exacerbated by economic constraints and mounting demographic pressures, which complicate the potential pathways to local integration for this specific cohort of Rohingya.