integration is mostly used and more popular among
refugees than the other two durable solutions, the
repatriation and resettlement. In legal term, local
integration means a situation where refugees are
fully accepted by local community which includes
citizenship provision. Thus, the formal ways are
called as the de jure integration. As for de facto
terms, the integration take place locally only. This
means that integration is not only a matter of legal
status provision by Government, but also the
provision of self-sufficiency and settlement for
refugees in local community. Therefore, integration
could become a better option for in dealing with
protracted situation rather than short term assistance
(Jacobsen, 2001; Crisp, 2004; Fielden, 2008; Hovil,
2014).
In many protracted refugee cases, de facto
integration is far more popular than the formal one.
It is because legal integration is much more complex
to be implemented in today situation. The generosity
of the host country has changed significantly for
refugees after 9/11 tragedy, when they consider the
forced migration phenomena as a threat to national
security. Moreover since the issue of refugee has
been securitized in many occasions, it is now getting
harder for refugees to gain citizenship from the host
country.
3 THE ROHINGYA IN
BANGLADESH
Myanmar Citizenship Law 1982 does not include
Rohingya as one of the 135 Burmese national ethnic,
so they are not regarded as citizens and labeled as
stateless people. The Rohingya, Muslim minority
living predominantly in Burma’s northern Rakhine
state, are considered illegal immigrants from
Bangladesh, despite the fact that they have settled in
Myanmar for hundreds of years (Parnini, Othman
and Ghazali, 2013). This unrecognized status affects
the Rohingya where they are susceptible to
discrimination, oppression, torture, physical abuses,
and religious persecution by the Government of
Myanmar. That is, making Rohingya took refuge to
the neighboring countries, without exception
Bangladesh.
The condition of Bangladesh shows that the
country is not a well place to receive refugees. As
one of the most densely populated countries in the
world, Bangladesh is still struggling with poverty
and massive growing population. Moreover, the
country also known for its vulnerability because it is
often exposed to natural disasters and climate
change (Kiragu, Rosi and Morris, 2011). In fact, in
terms of legality, Bangladesh does not ratify the
1951 Refugee Convention and its Protocol of 1967.
Thus, the country does not have an obligation to deal
with Rohingya refugee. However, the country has
ratified several human rights conventions such as the
Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and
Their Families.
In connection with the forced migrations, the
authors categorize four phases of Rohingya influx
into Bangladesh. The first wave took place in 1978,
when the Burmese military junta deployed Dragon
King Operation. The massive operation resulted in
mass murder and ethnic expulsion of Rohingya from
his residence (Parnini, 2013). As a result, an
estimated 200,000 Rohingya fled over the border to
Bangladesh. In an attempt to provide protection for
Rohingya, the Government of Bangladesh
constructed 20 refugee camps in 1992, but only two
camps remain as yet, which are Kutapalong and
Nayapara camps in the Cox Bazaar district in
southern Bangladesh (Milton et al., 2017).
Dating back to 1991-1992, the Government of
Myanmar deployed military forces in the Rakhine.
They’re increasing the construction of military
companies and highways throughout the area, in
which Rohingya was charged with ethnic
discrimination and alleged for violating Myanmar
citizenship law North Rakhine region to the border
of Bangladesh. The construction of military facilities
is accompanied by forced labor, seizure and
eviction, physical torture, murder and rape against
ethnic Rohingya living in Rakhine. Similarly,
mosque facilities are destroyed while religious
activities are prohibited as well as attacks on Muslim
leaders (Wiggers, 2002). As a result, over 250,000
Rakhine Muslims fled Myanmar seeks a protection
to Bangladesh, that event was called as the second
wave.
Furthermore, in 2012 as many as 140,000
Rohingya escaped to Bangladesh due to the
communal conflict that occurred with the majority
Buddhist Rakhine (Wiggers, 2002). In that third
influx, the communal conflict led to massacres, mass
killings and burning of Rohingya household by the
majority of Buddhist Rakhine along with local
military groups (Fuller, 2012). The arrival of
Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh increased
significantly in early August 2017, when some
700,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border into
Bangladesh due to attacks and massacres perpetrated
by Myanmar military and police officers (Bearak,
2017).