Table 2 Most frequent requests for the future by Rohingya refugees and supporting quotations
REQUEST | EXPLANATORY QUOTE |
|---|---|
Equal rights | We need for our people to be able to live and do all the activities freely in the same way as Rakhines and Burmese are able to do. (Buthidaung #23) |
We need to get a citizenship card with the recognition of the ethnic name “Rohingya.” (Rathedaung #9) | |
Rohingyas must be allowed to serve as military, police, BGP, and all other government services. Rohingyas must have a chance to become government officers in the same way as Rakhines, Burmese, and other ethnic groups. (Buthidaung #8) | |
Reparations | We must get back all our properties, such as the land confiscated by military battalions and other Buddhist ethnic groups, and our cattle seized by them. We must get compensation for all these. (Buthidaung #9) |
We must get compensation for all the properties we lost. For example, I used to have 10–20 cows and goats. I used to have a big strong house. I lost all these properties of mine. (Buthidaung #17) | |
We had to leave behind all our properties that we earned for our whole life and inherited from our parents. [The] government must pay compensation for all our properties that we had to leave behind. (Buthidang #24) | |
Education | The most important need is for our children to be able to seek education in the same way as Rakhines and Burmese children. (Buthidaung #23) |
If our children cannot get education here either, when we return to our country, we will still be excluded from all roles, saying “you are not educated.” That’s why we worry about our children’s education. (Rathedaung #13) | |
After arriving here in Bangladesh, our main concern here is that our children will become illiterate; our children will lose knowledge… How can we give our children an education? (Rathedaung #4) | |
Security | The international community should stand firmly with us until we have our own rights in our country, so we can live up there in safety and dignity like others. (Maungdaw #7) |
They would receive us and kill us again without the insurance of safety and security for our lives. (Maungdaw #22) | |
To live peacefully there, we really need the security forces who can protect our lives and properties. (Maungdaw #19) |