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The Geopolitical Vice of the ‘Rohingya Crisis’: Humanitarian Catastrophe and Bangladesh’s Endless Burden

  By Md. Rezaur Rahim (Dhaka Bureau) While the global voices for peace, non-violence, and human rights are drowned out by the clamor of wars in Ukraine, Palestine, or Lebanon, one of the longest-running and most complex refugee crises in human history is silently intensifying in a corner of South Asia. Escaping the brutal killings, rapes, and persecution by the military junta in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017, nearly 1.3 million Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh now face an extremely uncertain future. Even after nine long years, a sustainable and dignified repatriation remains elusive. By sheltering this vast number of displaced people, Bangladesh has become a scapegoat in the dirty ‘geopolitics’ of international superpowers. An Ever-Increasing Burden According to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, the number of registered Rohingya in the 34 camps of Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya and Teknaf currently stands at nearly 1.4 million. However, the alarming concern is that this number...
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U.K.: Pass Genocide Determination Bill

  New law would empower survivors, strengthen atrocity prevention, and help end government inaction (LONDON, July 10, 2026)—The U.K. Parliament should pass the Genocide Determination Bill, which would create a formal legal pathway for British courts to make preliminary determinations on genocide or the serious risk of genocide abroad, Fortify Rights said today. The House of Lords is scheduled to hold the bill’s Second Reading on July 17. Introduced by Lord Alton of Liverpool, a member of the Fortify Rights Leadership Council , the bill would empower victims and survivors of genocide, as well as organizations representing them, to apply to the High Court in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, or the Court of Session in Scotland, for a preliminary determination that genocide is occurring, has occurred, or that there is a serious risk of genocide. If the court makes such a determination, a U.K. Secretary of State would be required to act, including by referring the situation to the ...
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‘They Are Invisible People’: Hundreds of Rohingya Vanish at Sea

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  By Verena Hölzl July 17, 2026 Updated 10:20 a.m. ET When Nur Kalima’s two young children ask where their father is, she tells them he will be back soon. In reality, she is convinced he has been dead for weeks. She said that she thinks her husband, Abdul Rahman, was on one of the two boats that the United Nations says sank off the coast of Myanmar early this month. The vessels were headed to Malaysia, where its passengers, mostly members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority of Myanmar, had hoped to build a better life. On Thursday, the U.N. said that it fears more than 500 people died. “Who will take care of me now?” said Ms. Nur Kalima, 24, who is pregnant with her third child. Her family is among more than one million Rohingya living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, since they were driven out of Myanmar by their countrymen almost a decade ago. They have little to no access to education or employment, and international aid has been shrinking for years. About six...
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To stop genocide, we first need to recognise it when it’s happening

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  I n September 2017, I often found myself standing on the banks of the Naf River, the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, in tears and in utter despair, feeling absolutely powerless. Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees streamed past me, and I could see their villages burning across the river. For weeks, survivors told me the most horrific accounts: mothers had seen their husbands shot in front of them, their children clubbed to death so the army could save on bullets, and were then raped and beaten unconscious, left to die in their homes set alight. Over 700,000 Rohingya fled their homes in just a few weeks, and thousands were brutally murdered by the Myanmar military. There is a legal term for what I was witnessing: the crime of crimes, genocide. Myanmar’s rulers made no secret of their intention to rid the country of its Muslim Rohingya minority, only they refused to even use the name Rohingya. They prohibited United Nations officials and diplomats from using the term, be...
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The Not-So-Secret Israeli Strategy: This is the Real Gaza Plan by Ramzy Baroud

  Here is the bottom line: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of leaving Gaza, either before Israel’s general elections—likely to be held in October—or after. Conceding an inch from the roughly 70 percent of the territory his army currently occupies in Gaza will be considered a weakness by the majority of Israeli voters and would result in an open revolt within his extremist coalition. He has made his intentions clear time and again. Recent statements by Israel’s political leadership have only reinforced that reality, with officials insisting that Israel must maintain indefinite military dominance over the Strip and explicitly rejecting any framework that requires a full withdrawal of troops. To Netanyahu, the military footprint in Gaza is a permanent fixture , not a temporary bargaining chip. Some may argue that Netanyahu’s statements are merely political fodder aimed at prolonging his career and avoiding the disastrous outcomes awaiting him—in terms of st...
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