Every year on June 20, United Nations member states celebrate World Refugee Day to pay tribute to the resilience and bravery of refugees around the world. This day serves to draw attention to the growing number of displaced persons and the need to increase awareness about the rights and living conditions of refugees. For this year, the UN has chosen the theme “Until everyone is safe” to honour the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention and to strengthen the global pledge to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of refugees and displaced persons. Per a UN press statement, the safety of everyone today depends on the safety of vulnerable groups. Whenever people are forced to abandon their homes, it is everyone’s responsibility to stand by them, recognise their strength, and preserve their lives. We need to keep showing our support for refugees until we come up with totally effective solutions.
The UN theme resonates with the work of Warsan Shire, a Somali-born British poet who powerfully articulates the experiences of refugees in her poem Conversation about Home (2009). Inspired by her visit to the Rome Somali refugee camp in 2009, she was traumatised by the suicide of a refugee the night of her visit. The poem Home touched the people’s nerves, offered a way to give voice to refugees, and provided some authentic understanding of the crisis. In the first stanza of the poem Home, Shire says, “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. You only run for the border when you see the whole city is running as well.” She further conveys the desperation faced by refugees: “You have to understand that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.” Throughout the poem, Shire vividly depicts the vulnerability and hardships refugees face on their journeys.
Reading Shire’s poem made me think of the time in 2017 when I saw refugees arriving by the thousands from Myanmar’s Rakhine state. It was the first major wave of Rohingya fleeing the genocidal persecution by the Myanmar state to take refuge in Bangladesh. They abandoned not only their homes but also their families and every resource they had. About 1.3 million of the Rohingya population turned into refugees in Bangladesh – making it one of the top refugee-hosting countries worldwide. Nearly half of the Rohingya population had to desperately look for safety in nearby Muslim and South Asian countries. The persecution of Rohingya is expected by many to be the single largest humanitarian challenge of the 21st century. Unfortunately, slowly the world turned its attention and support towards other issues, leaving the Rohingya crisis almost forgotten. Over the years, cuts in programs and aid have made the already vulnerable refugees even more helpless. At this point, the Rohingya in Bangladesh are running out of food and basic items owing to decreasing resources. The World Food Programme (WFP) is facing a serious funding gap that has led to a cut in the food rations given monthly, from a flat $12 per person to a tiered system of $12, $10, and $7 based on vulnerability assessment. More importantly, the rising number of babies born in the camps since 2017 has put further pressure on the scarce resources. In 2025, a Rohingya man shared with the WFP, “The cash that comes in helps us survive, but it does not provide nutrition.”
Beyond economic hardship, the Rohingya camps face significant sociopolitical and integration challenges. The camps have become volatile environments, marked by frequent fires and internal violence. Multiple Rohingya militant and extremist groups operate within the camps, often clashing over competing interests. High-profile assassinations, including that of Mohib Ullah, have heightened insecurity. In 2025, several Rohingya reported to Fortify Rights that “They may be killed any moment.” According to Fortify Rights, Rohingya groups were responsible for numerous camp-based fatalities between 2022 and 2024, with approximately 90 people killed, 384 abducted, and 149 subjected to extortion in 2023. In 2024, abductions increased to 446, although killings and extortion declined. Despite ongoing efforts, there is no viable resolution, as attempts to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar have repeatedly failed due to the absence of safety and rights guarantees. The Myanmar government has shown little willingness to address the underlying causes of the crisis or to create conditions conducive to a safe return. Consequently, the Rohingya remain in a state of limbo, unable to return home and facing limited prospects for integration into Bangladeshi society. This protracted displacement has fostered a pervasive sense of hopelessness among refugees.
In the face of increasing despair, many Rohingya are now risking their lives to leave the camps and migrate to third countries by sea. UNHCR report that about 3,500 people made such dangerous journeys between January and August 2023, with at least 207 recorded deaths. In 2025, at least 900 Rohingya refugees were reported lost or dead in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The crisis has been deepened by the arrival of more than 150,000 Rohingya people in 2024-2025 who were fleeing a renewed internal conflict in Myanmar. Among the most pressing problems remain the lack of integration with local communities, the limited access to income-generating activities, unemployment and the trafficking of women and girls among the Rohingyas.
On the eve of World Refugee Day, we urge the United Nations and relevant agencies to prioritise the Rohingya, who face compounded marginalisation as an ethnic minority, as refugees, and as some of the world’s most impoverished people. We hope that the UN will remain vigilant and committed to ensuring safety for all, including the Rohingya, until comprehensive protection is achieved.
The author is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Chittagong, email: [email protected]
