---
title: "The Rohingya Crisis and Bangladesh-Myanmar Ties"
description: "Trace the Rohingya refugee crisis from the August 2017 exodus through repatriation diplomacy and ICJ proceedings, plus the trajectory of Bangladesh-Myanmar"
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/bcs-bangladesh-in-world-the-rohingya-crisis-bangladesh-myanmar-relations"
---

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The Rohingya crisis & Bangladesh-Myanmar relations

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# The Rohingya crisis & Bangladesh-Myanmar relations

The Rohingya refugee crisis, the August 2017 exodus, repatriation diplomacy, ICJ proceedings, and the trajectory of Bangladesh-Myanmar relations for the BCS IA section.

## The exodus and its legal architecture

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority concentrated in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Myanmar's **1982 Citizenship Law** excludes them from the 135 recognized "national races," rendering them de facto stateless. Persecution produced successive outflows into Bangladesh in 1978 (Operation Nagamin), 1991–92, and most consequentially after **25 August 2017**, when Myanmar's military (Tatmadaw) launched "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine following attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Within months roughly **742,000** Rohingya crossed into Cox's Bazar, joining earlier arrivals to total over **one million** registered refugees—the largest, fastest refugee movement in the region in decades.

## Where they are sheltered

Bangladesh concentrated the population in the Cox's Bazar district, where **Kutupalong-Balukhali** became the world's largest refugee settlement. To relieve congestion and ecological strain, Dhaka developed **Bhasan Char**, a silt island in the Bay of Bengal, relocating tens of thousands from December 2020 onward—a policy criticized by rights groups over consent and flood risk, later visited by a UNHCR delegation under a 2021 MoU. Bangladesh is **not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol**, so it classifies the population as "Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals" (FDMNs) rather than refugees, preserving the legal position that their status is temporary and that repatriation is the only durable solution.

## International accountability tracks

Three distinct legal and political processes run in parallel and are frequently confused in answer scripts:

1. **The UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM)**, established by the Human Rights Council in March 2017, reported in 2018 that the operations were carried out with "genocidal intent" and named senior Tatmadaw commanders.
2. **The International Court of Justice (ICJ)**: in November 2019 **The Gambia**, backed by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), filed *The Gambia v. Myanmar* alleging breaches of the **1948 Genocide Convention**. On **23 January 2020** the Court ordered **provisional measures** requiring Myanmar to prevent genocidal acts and preserve evidence; in July 2022 it rejected Myanmar's preliminary objections and assumed jurisdiction.
3. **The International Criminal Court (ICC)**: in 2019 the Pre-Trial Chamber authorized an investigation into the **deportation** as a crime against humanity—jurisdiction grounded in the fact that the coerced cross-border movement was completed on the territory of Bangladesh, an ICC State Party, even though Myanmar is not.

## Repatriation that never began

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an **Arrangement on Return** in November 2017 and a Physical Arrangement in January 2018. Two attempted repatriations—**November 2018** and **August 2019**—collapsed because no Rohingya volunteered to return absent guarantees of citizenship and safety. The **1 February 2021** Myanmar military coup, ongoing civil war, and the Arakan Army's 2024 advances in Rakhine have frozen prospects further, leaving the burden squarely on Bangladesh.

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