Nur Fatima (alias), an 18 year-old Rohingya refugee from a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh fell in love with a Malaysia- based tailor via IMO, an instant messaging app, and they eventually got married online. In December, 2023, her husband paid a broker named Ariful Islam in Bangladesh 4,50,000 Bangladeshi taka (4,500 USD) to take Fatima to him in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Living in a small shack inside the Muchuni refugee camp in Teknaf, Fatima’s family, especially her elder sister, Dilruba Kayes (alias), is distressed to seek her whereabouts as they have not heard anything back from the youngest member of the family since the starting of her voyage to Malaysia through the Bay of Bengal.
Like Nur Fatima, many Rohingya refugees are falling victim to trafficking and most of them are women. According to a UNHCR report, nearly 4,500 Rohingya refugees – 66% of whom are women and children - embarked on a deadly sea voyage in pursuit of the Malaysia or Indonesia dream in 2023 and 569 refugees reportedly died or went missing.
More than one million Rohingya refugees are living in squalid refugee camps in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, most of whom fled the brutal violence and persecution in neighboring Myanmar in 2017, which is now a subject to UN genocide probe.
But many of these Rohingya refugees are risking their lives to cross the sea to escape hunger, kidnapping and violence inside the makeshift camps in Bangladesh. Currently, each Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh receives a ration worth $11 per month from the United Nations World Food Programme, which was down from $12 before due to funding shortage, and it is leaving the refugees without enough to eat. The UN and donors have sought $876 million for the Rohingya in 2023 but only $440 million was found. The United Nations says the ration cuts will affect the lives of nearly one million Rohingyas in Bangladesh. The camps have become battlegrounds for rival insurgent groups as kidnappings have become rampant and security has worsened.
“With the assistance of another member of his group, Ariful took Fatima to a hideout in Kollanpara where many more Rohingya refugees, mostly women, were waiting to set off for Malaysia. Two days later, they were transported by sea to Shimla in Myanmar,” Dilruba said.
This was the last time Dilruba was able to talk to her sister over the phone. They were unable to get in touch with Ariful Islam after that incident.
Ariful Islam is a permanent resident in Kollanparara and he is the younger brother of Omar Faruk, the head of the local council and a member of the local ruling Awami League party. Omar Faruk, however, claimed he doesn't have communication with his brother Arif when asked.
According to the victims of the Rohingya camp, Arif was able to continue his activities with the help of his group members from within the prison after being detained twice by the Teknaf Police in 2023. Osman Gani, the officer in charge of Teknaf police station said that despite multiple arrests, Arif was granted bail by the High Court through the legal loopholes. The police have said that they are conducting extra surveillance in this area.
The story of 35-year-old Zayeda Begum is even more tragic. In 2017, she fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar with her husband and three children. Later, her husband left for Malaysia in 2020 through a trafficking ring. After that he sent money to broker Rofikul Islam, another brother of Ariful Islam, to take his family to Malaysia. In October 2023, Zayda Khatun with her three daughters and many others left Cox’s Bazar for Malaysia by boat. Later Zayda’s mother and brother got the news from others that Zayeda had drowned in the sea with her three daughters which they couldn’t verify.
“We don’t even know whether they are alive or not,” said her brother while sobbing.
Victims’ families said that the camps are the main targets of the traffickers, and the women are on their priority list.
“They allure the Rohingya women with marriage offers, it is their new technique,” a Rohingya leader said.
“Their job is to manage the Rohingyas. After that, they fix the time, divide the people into small groups and bring them separately to gather at one place. Then they sent them to the deep sea with small boats. There they are taken to bigger ships from those boats. The whole process is known by ‘Project’ to the traffickers,” he said.
Police officer Md Osman Gani said that many of the Rohingya refugees live in Indonesia and Malaysia, and they try to take their family members themselves from the camps of Cox’s Bazar, and the sea route is the only option for them. Some are trying to take their chosen women for marriage to these countries.
Rohingya refugees inside the camps said that many Rohingya women were tortured back in 2017 in Myanmar and they are still facing harassment inside the camps in Bangladesh. Many families have five to eight members living in small shacks measuring some 10 by 15 feet.
Most of these women who are victims of trafficking are aged between 15-35. They are not only going with the hope of marriage, but many women also want to go there to earn a living as they do not have the right to work outside the camp.
"We can't work here, even in emergencies we can't go outside the camp without permission, we feel hopeless here, our future is just bleak," said 17-year-old Masuma.
Traffickers use several points of Teknaf and Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar to traffic the Rohingya refugees, and they use these points because they do not have much security of law enforcement. Among these points in Teknaf are Shamlapur, Sheelkhali, Rajarchhara, Jahazpura, Sabrang, ShahpariDwip, Mithapanirchhara, Jaliapalong, Inani, Himchhari, Rejukhal, Khurushkul, and Maheshkhali.
Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar are surrounded by barbed wire fences to obstruct them from mixing with Bangladeshi nationals. This reporter found that these barricades were cut in several places in the camps in Kutupalong and Balukhali and the traffickers are using these security gaps to bring the refugees out of the camps.
Several rival insurgent groups like Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), and Islamic Mahaz, are active inside the camps and they are involved in kidnapping, drug-peddling and power-rift.
Mohammad Amir Zafar, commander of the Armed Police Battalion – a specialized unit of Bangladesh Police responsible for security inside the camps, said: “There are various criminal gangs in the camp. We are constantly trying to prevent human trafficking in the camp."
Investigations revealed that several gangs of Teknaf and Ukhiya are directly involved in Rohingya trafficking and they all are well connected. Several cases were filed against them in Teknaf and Cox’s Bazar police stations, and they were arrested, but they were released later. Sometimes they get active by using political power. Again they go into hiding in due time.
Speaking to the victims, law enforcement agencies and Manjhi of two camps, some names were revealed who are known to be controlling the trafficking ring. They are - the two brothers Ariful and Rofikul from the same family from Teknaf's Kallan Para, Sharif HossenfromMistripara, Md Salim also known as tall Salim, Md. Shukkur alias Shukkur Majhi, Abul Kalam, Feroz Ahmed fromDangarpara, Abdur Rahman from Bazar Para, Fayaz Ullah from Paschimpara, Maulavi Ashraf Ali fromShamlapur area.
In Teknaf’s Shahpori Island, Firoza Khatun, 45, is known as Bhabi (meaning sister-in-law in English) to everyone. Police said that she and her husband Siddikur Rahman are involved in Human trafficking. The couple got released on bail every time after being arrested and continued the human trafficking. Talking to several Rohingyas living in Teknaf Leda Rohingya camp and Kutupalong camp in Ukhiya, it is known that the Rohingyas themselves are playing an active role in Rohingya trafficking.
On December 12, 2023, police rescued 24 Rohingya, including women and children, from Baharchhara area of Teknaf, Cox's Bazar while being smuggled to Malaysia by sea. Among them was a Rohingya woman named Hamida Begum, 36, who took the risk to go to Indonesia by sea to change her fate. The trafficking group took Tk10 thousand ($100) advance from her by saying they will carry her to a trawler. The smugglers made an agreement with them for Tk2,50,000 ($2,500) to Tk3,00,000 ($3,000) per person.
“We have no freedom of work in Bangladesh. There is no financial security for our family. We are not interested in returning to Myanmar also because there is no security there,” Hamida said.
Bilkis Banu, an 18-year-old Rohingya girl Balukhali camp, wants to go to Malaysia because there is a discussion going on about her marriage with a Rohingya man in Malaysia. She met him through IMO.
“It costs a lot for the girls to get married here. There is no opportunity for education and a job here also. That’s why I want to go to Malaysia,” Bilkis said.
However, some refugees said they do not only want rations or refugee status, they want legal rights, security and freedom of work. “We want to do any kind of work, we don’t want this kind of displaced life,” said 28-year-old Amena Begum.
Some are willing to return to Myanmar if they are given assurances of their homes and citizenship status in Myanmar. They are willing to return to their homeland if they get back their home, rights, and dignity.
Asif Munir, a refugee affairs expert, said that Bangladesh is actually under pressure from many sides to give shelter to the Rohingyas.
“At first the international community was very interested. Now their interest has waned. Since they are in the territory of Bangladesh, Bangladesh is also responsible for their care. Now the government should seriously raise the issue to the international community,” he said.
HM Nazrul Islam, member secretary of Cox's Bazar Citizens Movement, said: "Though human trafficking is a cross-border problem, it has now become an epidemic. It has now taken the form of business.”
Nazrul blamed the weakness of the law for this.
"The role of the police in preventing human trafficking is not good enough. And they are also reluctant about taking the case of Rohingya victims inside the camp,” he said.
Hosne Ara Rekha, program coordinator of the Fights Slavery and Trafficking in Persons (FSTIP) project of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), a non-governmental organization working in Cox's Bazar, said the cycle of human trafficking in the camp is becoming alarming.
“Even when traffickers are arrested, there are loopholes in the law that traffickers continue to exploit. They are again doing the same by running away from the law by using the loopholes. Because of this, trafficking cannot be prevented,” she said.
This story was produced as a part of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development’s Media and Visual Fellowship on Militarism, Peace and Women’s Human Rights.
