A global rights group cast doubt Friday on Bangladesh's claims that thousands of Rohingya refugees are ready to move to a new island site that critics say is prone to natural disasters.Dhaka has long wanted to move 100,000 people to the silt islet of Bhashan Char to relieve overcrowded mainland camps where almost a million Rohingya have lived since fleeing a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.Bangladeshi officials have said that between 6,000 to 7,000 Rohingya have already expr

Thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh refugee camps have agreed to move to an island in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Sunday, despite fears the site is prone to flooding.Dhaka has long wanted to move 100,000 refugees to the muddy silt islet, saying it would take pressure off the overcrowded border camps where almost a million Rohingya live.Some 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 in the face of a military crackdown, joining 200,000 refugees already in makeshift tent settleme

The Bangladesh military said Thursday it has ordered an investigation after a Rohingya family in a refugee camp accused army troops of raping a 12-year-old girl.The inquiry comes as around a million Rohingya in vast camps in Bangladesh face increasing hostility two years after fleeing a military offensive in Myanmar.Mohammad Osman, an elder brother of the alleged victim, said three soldiers entered their shanty at the Nayapara Rohingya camp on Sunday evening and sexually assaulted his sister.

Bangladesh is set to erect barbed-wire fencing, guard towers and cameras around Rohingya camps, the home minister said Thursday citing security concerns, in a move critics said would turn the refugee settlements into prisons.Dhaka has been growing frustrated with the Rohingya in Bangladesh - who number nearly a million - since the collapse of a recent repatriation attempt to encourage them to return home to Myanmar.The stateless Muslim minority live in large camps in southeastern border towns

Bangladesh and Myanmar are considering a fresh attempt next week to repatriate a few of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown two years ago, Dhaka officials said Friday.Some 740,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in August 2017 from a military offensive in Myanmar that the United Nations (UN) likened to ethnic cleansing, joining 200,000 already there.The two nations signed a repatriation deal later that year but virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to ret

Talks between Myanmar and Rohingya leaders will be extended after "positive" discussions about the refugees' return to their homeland, Bangladesh officials said. Some 740,000 Rohingya fled a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar's military and joined another 200,000 already living in squalid conditions in nearly three dozen camps in Bangladesh's coastal Cox's Bazar district.The two nations signed a repatriation deal two years ago but so far virtually no Rohingya hav

When the 34th ASEAN Summit concluded last month in Bangkok, Thailand, it came as no surprise that the bloc was met with heavy criticism for suggesting Rohingya refugees will repatriate back to Myanmar within two years. More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee northern Rakhine state in western Myanmar during a 2017 military-led crackdown the United Nations (UN) has said included mass killings and gang-rapes executed with “genocidal intent”.

At least 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed by monsoon rains in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeast, officials said Sunday.Bangladesh's meteorological department said the Cox's Bazar district – home to nearly one million Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar – has seen at least 58.5 centimetres (nearly two feet) of rain since 2 July. An International Organisation for Migration (IOM) sp

More than 60 people were found stranded near a boat in Myanmar's Rakhine state, an official said Monday, as a trafficking route for persecuted Rohingya Muslims appears open for business despite a crackdown.Each year thousands of Rohingya and stateless Bangladeshis try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia by sea.But boatloads commonly wash up on the shores of Myanmar or Thailand, especially in the treacherous conditions brought by the monsoon season.63 "Muslims" were found early Sunda