Rohingya Crisis Enters Ninth Year as Aid Declines and Hopes of Return Fade
IQNA – More than one million Rohingya refugees remain in Bangladesh as the displacement crisis enters its ninth year, with little prospect of a safe and sustainable return to Myanmar.
Despite years of international efforts, there is still no clear political solution, no guaranteed path to citizenship and no credible assurance that Rohingya refugees would be able to live safely and freely if they returned.
In an interview with Al Jazeera” Evo Freyen, the UNHCR representative in Bangladesh, discussed the worsening humanitarian situation, declining international funding, the future of Rohingya children and the conditions required for a sustainable return to Myanmar.
Freyen rejected the idea that the international community has completely abandoned the Rohingya, saying donors and international institutions have continued to provide substantial funding for years. However, he acknowledged that funding is now declining while the number of refugees in Bangladesh continues to increase.
He said the prolonged nature of the crisis has increasingly led Rohingya refugees to question whether returning to Myanmar will ever be possible.
His message to the international community, he said, is that countries must come together, engage with the various actors in Myanmar and work to create conditions that give refugees hope that a return will eventually become possible.
Bangladesh cannot carry the burden indefinitely
Bangladesh has hosted more than one million Rohingya refugees since the major wave of displacement in 2017, when a military crackdown in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee across the border.
Almost a decade later, the refugees remain largely dependent on humanitarian assistance and there is still no viable political framework for their safe and sustainable return.
Freyen said Bangladesh has demonstrated that it is able and willing to host large numbers of Rohingya refugees, but the country also deserves to “see light at the end of the tunnel.”
According to the UNHCR representative, countries neighbouring conflict zones are carrying much of the burden of hosting displaced populations. Continuing to ask Bangladesh to host refugees for several more years would be more sustainable if the country could see that the international community genuinely prioritizes durable solutions.
For UNHCR, return remains the main durable solution, but Freyen stressed that return cannot simply mean moving people across an international border.
The reasons that forced refugees to flee must be addressed if their return is to be sustainable. Otherwise, they could once again face persecution, displacement and the need to cross an international border in search of safety.
Funding cuts threaten humanitarian assistance
Declining international aid is one of the most serious challenges facing the Rohingya response.
According to figures discussed in the programme, the UN’s 2026 Joint Response Plan appeal amounts to $710.5 million, 26 percent lower than the 2025 appeal. Even that reduced figure is described as the minimum required for life-saving assistance.
Freyen said humanitarian agencies have already scaled down their appeal and adopted a highly prioritized approach in an effort to use available resources as efficiently as possible.
Yet even the reduced appeal has not been fully funded. At the time of the interview, funding stood at around 66 percent, with concerns that additional funding would become more difficult to secure during the latter part of the year.
At the same time, humanitarian needs are not declining. They are growing as the refugee population increases.
95 percent depend on humanitarian aid
The humanitarian situation in the camps in Cox’s Bazar remains extremely fragile.
Freyen said around 95 percent of Rohingya refugees in the camps depend fully or largely on different forms of humanitarian assistance.
That assistance covers basic necessities including shelter, water, food, sanitation, healthcare and education.
The camps themselves are located in a fragile environment and face difficult climatic conditions. Maintaining infrastructure such as drainage systems requires continued funding, and heavy rainfall has repeatedly demonstrated how quickly deteriorating infrastructure can threaten living conditions.
Freyen also stressed the importance of supporting Bangladeshi host communities living near the camps.
He warned that international organizations should avoid creating an imbalance in which refugee camps receive relatively strong support while surrounding Bangladeshi communities struggle economically and socially.
Rohingya children risk becoming a lost generation
The future of Rohingya children was another major concern raised during the interview.
Many children are growing up in refugee camps without formal legal status, with limited access to formal education, restricted freedom of movement and little certainty about their future.
Freyen said UNHCR shares the concern that Rohingya children could become a “lost generation.”
Too many children and young people are not attending school and spend their days with limited opportunities for meaningful activity, he said.
Education, according to Freyen, is not simply about keeping children occupied. It is also a source of hope.
As long as people are involved in something that represents an investment in their future, he said, there is hope. Education equips refugees with knowledge, skills and confidence, helping them become more resilient in difficult circumstances.
Education also represents an investment in the possibility of future return. If Rohingya refugees are eventually able to return to Myanmar, the knowledge and skills acquired by younger generations could help rebuild their communities.
Citizenship and rights are central to sustainable return
A central issue in the discussion was the question of citizenship and legal rights for the Rohingya in Myanmar.
Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s official ethnic groups, and the lack of citizenship remains one of the central problems underlying the crisis.
Freyen said the international community must examine the reasons that forced Rohingya to flee in the first place. These include conflict, the inability to pursue livelihoods, forced recruitment, exclusion, discrimination and difficulties obtaining citizenship.
A sustainable return, he stressed, is therefore far more than a logistical operation involving trucks and transportation across a border.
If refugees return only to face continued restrictions, lack of citizenship, confinement to camps or settlements and restrictions on freedom of movement, such a situation would not constitute an acceptable or durable solution.
Freyen said the wishes of refugees must also be respected. If refugees understand the conditions awaiting them and decide they do not want to return, that decision must be respected. Otherwise, the process could amount to forced return, something UNHCR does not condone.
The crisis predates the 2017 exodus
The programme also highlighted the fact that the Rohingya crisis is much older than the massive displacement of 2017.
Freyen described the current situation as a crisis that has effectively lasted for around a decade, while emphasizing that persecution and displacement of the Rohingya go back much further.
He said public awareness, particularly in Western countries, remains limited when it comes to both the history and complexity of the crisis.
Older generations of Rohingya refugees often express a desire to return to their homeland so they can die in their own country, while younger Rohingya want to return to rebuild their communities and escape a life of dependency in refugee camps.
But instead of seeing large-scale returns, UNHCR continues to receive new arrivals.
Freyen said approximately 150 new Rohingya arrivals approach UNHCR each week, providing continuing evidence that conditions inside Myanmar remain unsuitable for safe return.
Myanmar says nearly 309,000 refugees are eligible to return
The interview also addressed Myanmar’s recent acknowledgement that nearly 309,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh are former residents of Rakhine State and are eligible to return once security conditions improve.
Freyen said UNHCR was not involved in the process used to establish the figure and therefore could not comment on how the number was calculated.
He noted that approximately 1.2 million Rohingya have been registered in Bangladesh in various forms and that they fled Myanmar because they had no other viable option.
The situation has also become more complicated because parts of the areas from which Rohingya fled are now controlled by a non-state armed group.
As a result, any future return arrangement would have to involve a range of actors rather than simply the central government and the refugees.
Dangerous sea journeys show rising desperation
The deteriorating conditions in the camps are also pushing some Rohingya refugees towards increasingly dangerous forms of migration.
Freyen said the rise in maritime journeys is a clear indication that desperation is increasing while hope is declining.
Some refugees pay money to smugglers or become victims of exploitative schemes in an attempt to leave the camps and reach other parts of the region.
He described the maritime route used by Rohingya refugees as one of the world’s deadliest migration routes, saying that roughly 10 percent of those who embark on such journeys do not survive.
Those who survive may be detained by authorities in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand or become victims of trafficking and exploitation. Some are forced to work to pay off debts owed to smugglers.
Despite knowing the risks, refugees continue to take these journeys because they believe that if one member of a family manages to reach another country and earn money, life for relatives remaining behind may become easier.
Freyen said the probability of success, however, remains extremely low.
ICJ case important, but daily hardship remains
The interview also examined the case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya.
Freyen said the Rohingya community is closely following the proceedings and that a possible judgment would be important to them.
However, he emphasized that a legal ruling alone would not resolve the immediate problems facing refugees in Cox’s Bazar.
Even a declaration or judgment would not change the harsh reality of daily life in the camps, including poor living conditions, limited opportunities and the absence of hope for a durable solution.
For that reason, he said, international attention must remain focused on both the legal process and the immediate humanitarian and political challenges facing the Rohingya.
Young people are both the greatest concern and a source of hope
Asked what he sees as the most concerning and hopeful aspect of life in the camps, Freyen pointed to the same group: young people.
He said it is impressive to see young Rohingya continuing to seek opportunities to acquire knowledge, contribute to their communities and work as volunteers.
Their determination, he said, demonstrates that there is still considerable dynamism and a desire not to give up.
But that determination is increasingly confronted by structural limitations.
For most young refugees, education effectively stops at secondary-school level, while only a very small number have opportunities to pursue tertiary education. A few online programmes are available, and a small number of female refugees are able to leave the camps to attend classes in Chattogram.
For the majority, however, there is a clear ceiling on educational opportunities.
Freyen said it is particularly painful because many of the young people who are unable to continue their education are articulate, ambitious and eager to contribute to their communities.
The Rohingya crisis therefore remains caught between humanitarian management and the search for a political solution. Bangladesh continues to carry the burden of hosting more than one million refugees, while international funding declines and conditions in Myanmar remain unstable.
For UNHCR, maintaining basic humanitarian assistance is essential, but it cannot substitute for a durable political solution. Without conditions that guarantee safety, rights, dignity and a genuine possibility of rebuilding their lives, the return of Rohingya refugees risks becoming another temporary movement rather than an end to one of the world’s longest-running displacement crises.
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