Refugees

The dispute over a fence going up on the Myanmar border continues.  As the fence is erected, Bangladesh border troops are being deployed to the common border.  This has an effect on the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar, because they cross this border fleeing rape, forced labor, and property confiscation seeking refuge...
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There are long-existing points of tension between Bangladesh and Burma such as disputes over maritime boundaries and the movement of illegal goods. One of the most sensitive issued has been the  cross-border trafficking of drugs and the migration of refugees from Burma to Bangladesh. In the last couple of weeks tensions have been mounting...
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Summer is nearly officially over (and the weather here in New York shows it). This means the Perspectives on Global Issues blog is back from its sun-drenched hibernation. Our editors have already been churning out their thoughts and analyses on the latest breaking news in the world of international affairs — but just...
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In an earlier blog I wrote about the leaders in Bangladesh and Thailand that were beginning to put pressure on the Government of Burma to discuss the out-migration of the Rohingya to Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia. It seems now that we may be beyond that point. Business Day recently reported that the...
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The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program doesn’t get much attention in the news, and many that have heard about the program are lost in the complicated process of resettlement.  A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor provides a bit of background on the program by following a Congolese-Rwandan family that was resettled in Clarkston,...
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The Government of Bangladesh may have reached its tipping point hosting the Rohingya refugees in the southeastern part of the country.  In a recent report in Reuters, the Governments of Bangladesh and Thailand are reaching out to the Government of Burma to discuss the flow of the Muslim minority Rohingya into neighboring countries.  While...
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UNHCR just published its statistical yearbook for 2007. This includes statistics on: populations and trends, durable solutions, displacement, asylum, living conditions for refugees, and case studies. This includes updated data on displaced and refugee populations, which rose to 25.1 million during UNHCR’s reporting period of January – December 2007. There are also figures on...
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Photo via CNN Facing persecution as a minority ethnic group in Myanmar, the Rohingya refugees have been fleeing their homeland since the 1970s. Some have ventured to Bangladesh, languishing in refugee camps for over 17 years. Still others have taken the riskier route to refuge traveling by sea to Thailand and Malaysia. ...
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It seems that the approach of January 1st gets a lot of us thinking about new beginnings, so I thought it appropriate to look at some of the lives that have received an opportunity for new beginnings this past year. Although often under-reported and largely absent from the daily news, the U.S. has...
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Recently, I had the opportunity to conduct research in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. While many know about the plight of the impoverished in Bangladesh, the presence of the Rohingya refugees has received much less attention. The Rohingya are a minority Muslim ethnic group from the Rakhine state of Myanmar, which...
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