Meet Jabbar. A newborn baby boy in a makeshift house on November 21 this year in Jamtoli Rohingya camp-15 under Thaingkhali of Ukhiya Upazila in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. His father Sabbir Ahmed and mother Jarina Begum with their seven other children sheltered in the camp after being forcibly displaced from the Rakhine state of Myanmar in 2017.
Jabbar does not possess a clear national identity, as he is not recognised as a citizen of Myanmar or Bangladesh, nor is he considered a refugee. Despite being treated as refugees by donor agencies, the Rohingya people, have not received official refugee status from Bangladesh. This leaves his parents unsure about what the future holds for their children and how they will be able to navigate their lives.
In their struggle to survive, Jabbar's parents rely on the assistance of donor agencies. These agencies offer vital support by providing necessary provisions such as food and other essentials on a daily basis. Every child, like Jabbar, has the basic right to survive and grow up healthy, and it is the responsibility of the authorities to make sure they have access to food, shelter, healthcare, and education. The way Jabbar was born shows the complex challenges faced by Rohingya children and their families. The absence of a defined legal status and their dependence on external assistance raise significant concerns about their long-term prospects and overall welfare.
While this correspondent visited Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, some parents of Rohingya children like Sabbir Ahmed said the Myanmar government, especially the Myanmar military Junta stole the dreams and future of their children by forcibly displacing them from their motherland, Rakhaine state of Myanmar, their home country.
"Now our children are stateless. They are growing up without any identities neither Myanmar citizens nor refugees. No one can say about the fate of our children's future even our also," they said.
"We are living here (Camps) with the sympathy of the Hasina government and the UN and donor agencies," they added.
"We don't want to stay here any longer. We want to go back to our motherland. We can't bear the sufferings of our children in the camps," they said.
According to a report from the Bangladesh Defence Ministry, about 95 children are born every day in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps. These camps are home to approximately one million Rohingya people. The report was submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense on February 16 this year.
The report states that on average, around 30,000 Rohingya children are born in Bangladesh each year. This continuous increase in the Rohingya population has led to a total of more than 1.3 million Rohingya people by the year 2025.
To date, a total of 497,817 children are living in the camps in Bangladesh, according to the statistics of the office of the Cox's Bazar Social Welfare Department.
Given this situation, Bangladesh has requested the United Nations (UN) to prioritize family planning measures in the Rohingya camps.
In 1948, just like Jabbar, there were many Rohingyas who were forcibly displaced from Myanmar and ended up being born in Bangladesh. These individuals, now elderly, have lived in Bangladesh for years, carrying with them the traumatic experiences and memories of being Rohingya. Their lives have been marked by a sense of displacement. Approximately, 37,000, staying in two separate camps in Cox's Bazar as refugees.
Among the Rohingya community in Cox's Bazar, the children are particularly vulnerable. They face various health challenges, including malnutrition, cholera, diphtheria, and pneumonia. Furthermore, some of their parents are afflicted with AIDS, hepatitis C, and skin diseases, which further exacerbates the difficult circumstances they face. The report highlights the concerning health conditions that exist within the Rohingya community.
Their past experiences have left deep scars, and they require mental health counseling and support to help them cope with their emotional and psychological wounds. The collective memories shared by the Rohingya community further compound the need for comprehensive mental health services.
Currently, there are many Rohingya babies are born with various physical disabilities. These innocent children enter the world already facing significant challenges.
The concern for the survival of their babies weighs heavily on the minds of parents in the Rohingya camp.
During the visit to a Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazars, Karima Begum, a mother of five children, expressed her fears to The South Asian Times, saying, "We are scared because we had to escape from Myanmar to save our lives. "If our children die from getting infected, how will our people survive?"
Karima added, "The camp conditions are unhealthy, and we do not feel safe. Our children are incredibly vulnerable to diseases."
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that more than 11% of children in the camps suffer from acute malnutrition, while over 30% experience chronic malnutrition. The Rohingya children, particularly girls, face heightened risks of violence and exploitation, including trafficking for both sexual exploitation and forced labor. Recognizing the urgent need for assistance, UNICEF official Mostafa Mohammad Sazzad Hossain said that they have taken steps to provide antenatal and postnatal care to mothers and their infants. UNICEF's case management workers regularly visit mothers in their shelters, assessing their situations and providing support. They have established more than 150 parent groups throughout the camps to offer guidance and referral services, he said.
To ensure that an increasing number of women receive essential healthcare services before and after giving birth, UNICEF also mobilized nearly 250 community volunteers, he informed. These dedicated individuals work diligently to encourage women to visit healthcare facilities, promoting the well-being of both mothers and their newborns, he added.
Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) of the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman told The South Asian Times that the Rohingya children are not citizens of any country and also not refugees, they are basically 'Stateless children'.
"They are growing up as 'Rohingya Children' as we are registering them after birth in the camps," he said.
He informed that there are about one million Rohingyas in the Bangladesh camps in Cox's Bazar. Of them, 52 per cent are children. "As a human being, everyone should have the need a citizen of any country.
He said that the Rohingya children are suffering from various diseases including malnutrition, trauma, and anxiety. So, many Rohingya children have been involved in 'negative activities' like human trafficking, drug carriers, and other criminal activities since their childhood.
"There are possibilities to motivate them easily into the criminal activities by the vested quarters though the law enforcement and the intelligence agencies are surveillance their activities," he informed.
Assistant Director of the Social Welfare Department in Cox's Bazar Md Shafi Uddin said, "The Rohingya communities find happiness and fulfillment from having children, but this has led to a rapid and concerning increase in their population. Unfortunately, if this trend continues, it will not only affect the Rohingya communities but also the local population in terms of limited food and resources. To ensure a sustainable future for all, the government is actively taking measures to control the birth rate in order to address these challenges effectively."
"Rohingyas should go back to Myanmar and donor agencies should continue their humanitarian support until this problem is solved," he said.
As the Rohingya people spend more time in Bangladesh, their desperation continues to grow. Many have resorted to using people traffickers in their desperate attempts to embark on dangerous boat journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia. The desperation to find a better life pushes families to consider extreme measures, including child labor and child marriage.
Currently, the Rohingya crisis is a regional and global crisis caused by Myanmar. It is an additional pressure for Bangladesh. Bangladesh is forced to bear the burden of this crisis. Bangladesh government has to spend more than 1 billion dollars every year for Rohingyas. The Government of Bangladesh will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas.
