Caritas Bangladesh warns Rohingya over risky sea journeys

Church charity is running an awareness program to deter Rohingya from falling prey to traffickers

Church charity Caritas Bangladesh has launched an awareness campaign among Rohingya refugees to deter them from risking their lives by fleeing Bangladesh and Myanmar on risky sea journeys run by trafficking gangs.

“Caritas Bangladesh is running an awareness program for about 23,000 Rohingya people to prevent them from traveling illegally by sea,” said Marcel Ratan Guda, director of the charity’s emergency response program.

Volunteers will make door-to-door visits and hold discussions with community leaders in refugee camps to explain the dangers that people face by making perilous sea journeys, he said. 

In December the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued an alert about a sharp rise in the number of Rohingya fleeing both Bangladesh and Myanmar by boat. Most head for Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia, and many who board old and overcrowded boats die or are lost along the way.

The UNHCR said 1,920 people have made the trip since January this year, and 119 of them are reported to have died or gone missing. That compares with fewer than 300 people who made the trip and 29 reported dead or missing in 2021.

“Many families are facing destruction, many lives are being lost”

In 2017, more than 750,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh following the military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which the UN dubbed a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

“Rohingyas are trying to leave the closed and uncertain life of a Bangladesh camp and go to different countries by boat in the hope of a better future, and as a result, many families are facing destruction, many lives are being lost,” Guda told UCA News.

He said Caritas Bangladesh has so far directly assisted more than 200,000 Rohingya by providing housing, education and hygiene kits, and through various awareness programs.

 “Life in the camp is very depressing. We don’t see any hope of going back to Myanmar, food is guaranteed in the camp but how long can we live like this? So, many Rohingya people want to secure their future by moving to other countries,” Mohammad Ali, a community leader in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, told UCA News.

“In my experience, the camp is quiet enough during the day, but a lot of crimes happen at night. Law enforcement is not enough, patrolling should be increased,” said an NGO worker in the camp, who did not want to be named.

“At the same time, the government needs to carry out awareness-building campaigns with all the NGOs that work in the camps. I think if the process of repatriation can be done quickly, illegal immigration can be prevented to some extent because then they will have hope,” he told UCA News.

However, Rakibul Hasan, a state official in charge of Balukhali camp, said they have enough surveillance in and around the camp but some Rohingya still manage to try and flee abroad with dangerous sea crossings.

“Gangs of human traffickers are trying to lure the Rohingya with false hopes to take them abroad via illegal sea routes and many are stepping on that path. Our law enforcement forces are very active and several people from this racketeering group have already been arrested,” he added.

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