After 23 hours on his first international flight, it was only after stepping off the plane in the United States that Nurul Haque finally felt the relief of escaping the refugee camps of Bangladesh, where he was born.
Haque was among the first Rohingya refugees allowed to leave Bangladesh in more than a decade. The 62 people who have flown to the US since late last year might be few, but resettlement has given them hope of opportunity and security that was denied them in Bangladesh.
“We have escaped the prison,” says Haque, 31, who moved to Portland, Oregon on the west coast with his wife and son. “For 31 years, I did not have even basic rights. All this time we lived with only primary services – school, food, health. Nothing more than that.”
Bangladesh hosts almost a million Rohingya refugees but limits their access to services and bans them from travelling beyond the fenced-in refugee camps, which have existed since the 90s. One of them, Kutupalong, is the largest refugee camp in the world.
Bangladesh had also blocked the resettlement of refugees to third countries since 2010, but in December 2023 allowed the first cohorts to leave after the US agreed to take some of the refugees. For years, the only way for Rohingya to escape the refugee camps had been to rely on human traffickers operating between Bangladesh and Malaysia.
While Bangladesh has been in talks with Myanmar about repatriating some of the Rohingya population, the refugees and humanitarian organisations have rejected a return without a promise of safety. The resettlement of some refugees, even in relatively small numbers, is considered one of the few ways to ease the burdens on the camps.
The NGO Refugees International suggested last month that resettlement is an achievable way of helping the refugees in Bangladesh and that the US should take 50,000.
Bangladeshi media reported that theforeign minister, AK Abdul Momen, wants richer nations to take 100,000 refugees and was critical about the pace of the resettlement process, saying that the 62 taken so far fell short of what is needed.
Haque, like others in the first groups resettled, has been a civil society activist whose security was threatened by the armed groups who have filled a security vacuum in the camps, and often targeted activists with kidnapping, extortion and, in some cases, assassinations.
The prominent activist Mohib Ullah, who had been invited to speak at the UN and visit the White House, was killed in 2021 by gunmen who stormed his tent, and this still fuels the fears of many activists.
While Haque is now safe, he says threats continue against his family, which makes it difficult for him to settle as he is constantly worried for their safety.
The south-east Asia-based rights group Fortify Rights has warned about risks to Rohingya in the camps from both armed groups and Bangladeshi security forces, whose members have been accused of using violence to extort money from refugees.
The group’s director, John Quinley, welcomes the first resettlements but says that those facing security threats should have their cases treated more urgently. “There are refugees with major protection concerns who have well-founded fears of violence, and even death, who are falling through the cracks.
“The UNHCR and other agencies must prioritise coordination and information sharing. I have spoken to some refugees who have not heard back from UNHCR protection focal points for months. This is after refugees have proactively shared their threats.”
Yasmin Ara, the founder of the Rohingya Women Development Forum, which helps educate female Rohingya refugees, had been forced to live outside the camps because she also faced security threats.
She says: “We were afraid to live outside the camp because we resided there without permission, and we pretended to be Bangladeshi.
“We faced difficulties paying rent and sustaining the family due to a lack of job and income. However, after coming to America, we gained freedom. We can go anywhere without fear. We feel much better and more secure in America.”
Haque, meanwhile, is living with another Rohingya family already resettled in Portland from Malaysia while he searches for permanent accommodation and work. Long-term, he hopes to study. Despite a ban on Rohingya studying in Bangladesh, he was able to get a university degree by registering as a Bangladeshi.
Now he wants to take advantage of the opportunity in the US to pursue a degree in international law.
“Here I am no longer living in panic. I no longer fear. I can ride the bus. I can walk the streets and no one asks who I am,” says Haque.
“I want to use international scope to work for my people, to make sure we can return home to Myanmar, to make sure we get rights there. We still have hope for that.”
