Shafiur Rahman is a journalist and documentary filmmaker focusing on the politics of refugee management in South and Southeast Asia. He writes the Rohingya Refugee News newsletter
The Rohingya are not “fully dependent” on anyone. They are dependent only to the extent that they have been made dependent -- by design, by policy, and by a system that manages dependency rather than ending it.
Bangladesh’s model of Rohingya containment is not a temporary holding pattern -- it is politically and economically rewarding for the state. International actors must stop sustaining it.
Bhasan Char is a symbol of the corruption and cronyism of the last regime, a so-called humanitarian scheme that served only to line the pockets of the powerful. The Interim Government can do the right thing by making a clean break from Sheikh Hasina's most disastrous Rohingya policy.
It is merely another performance in a long-running tragedy of control, optics, and missed opportunities for real change
While much of the trafficking narrative involving Rohingya women focuses on destinations like Malaysia, Asma's story is a reminder that trafficking can take many forms and lead to various destinations