The refugees are stateless after the Southeast Asian country stopped recognising their citizenship in 2015.
Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a violent 2017 crackdown by the Myanmar military.
The stateless and persecuted minority live in overcrowded, dangerous, and under-resourced relief camps, and several previous attempts to broker their return home have failed due to reluctance from Myanmar and the refugees themselves. “They are ready to accept them. But the Rohingya are not ready to go. That’s the challenge,” one Bangladeshi government official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The desperate situation has prompted thousands of Rohingya to embark upon dangerous and often deadly sea trips to Southeast Asian countries to escape the camps.