Bangladesh sounds alarm as ‘extreme desperation' drives Rohingya into deadly sea journeys
Bangladesh hosts more than 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims, who, for decades, have fled neighboring Myanmar to escape persecution, especially during a military crackdown in 2017. The majority of them live in Cox's Bazar in eastern Bangladesh, which has become the world's largest refugee settlement.
Over the years, humanitarian conditions in Cox's Bazar's cramped refugee camps have been deteriorating, with aid continuously declining since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly one in five people attempting to flee the settlement by sea have been reported as dead or missing so far in 2025, according to UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency.
Two boats which capsized on May 9 and 10 were carrying a total of 514 Rohingya refugees from Cox's Bazar and Myanmar's Rakhine state, according to UNHCR, which estimates that at least 427 of them died.
'The ongoing funding crisis for the Rohingya is severely hampering the lives of Rohingya in the camps in Cox's Bazar, which fueled the desperation for the perilous sea journey,' Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox's Bazar, told Arab News.
'Every aspect of their lives — food, livelihood, health, and so on — has been severely impacted. Most importantly, it has darkened their future also. They are at a loss what to do. The uncertainty in their lives triggered many of them to (undertake) the risky sea journeys towards unknown destinations.'
Over the past few years, UNHCR has documented thousands of Rohingya refugees embarking on deadly sea journeys from Bangladesh — and, to a lesser extent, from Myanmar — and reported hundreds dying or going missing.
The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, lived for centuries in Myanmar's western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s. Since then, many of them have fled to Bangladesh, where they are almost entirely reliant on humanitarian aid.
Despite multiple attempts by Bangladeshi authorities, the UN-backed repatriation and resettlement process of the Rohingya has so far failed to take off.
In 2025, aid for the Rohingya faced another cut after US President Donald Trump's administration announced it was eliminating most US aid globally. Washington was the largest donor of foreign aid to the Rohingya last year, contributing $301 million — 55 percent of all foreign aid received.
UNHCR requires $383 million in 2025 to 'stabilize the lives of refugees and their host communities' across Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, as well as those displaced inside Myanmar. But, as of Friday, it had secured only 30 percent of that amount.
The deadly boat accidents earlier this month may have been fueled by 'extreme desperation,' UNHCR said, highlighting that it occurred during the monsoon season, which is a particularly dangerous time for boat travel in the region.
'The dire humanitarian situation, exacerbated by funding cuts, is having a devastating impact on the lives of Rohingya, with more and more resorting to dangerous journeys to seek safety, protection and a dignified life for themselves and their families,' said Hai Kyung Jun, UNHCR director for Asia and the Pacific.
'The latest tragedy is a chilling reminder that access to meaningful protection, especially in countries of first asylum, as well as responsibility sharing and collective efforts along sea routes, are essential to saving lives.'
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Al Arabiya
09-08-2025
- Al Arabiya
Restored Nagasaki bell rings in 80 years since atomic bombing
Twin cathedral bells rang in unison Saturday in Japan's Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment of horror. On August 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m., three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. After heavy downpours Saturday morning, the rain stopped shortly before a moment of silence and ceremony in which Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki urged the world to 'stop armed conflicts immediately.' 'Eighty years have passed, and who could have imagined that the world would become like this? 'A crisis that could threaten the survival of humanity, such as a nuclear war, is looming over each and every one of us living on this planet.' About 74,000 people were killed in the southwestern port city, on top of the 140,000 killed in Hiroshima. Days later, on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. 'Invisible terror' But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that often came with being a hibakusha. Ninety-three-year-old survivor Hiroshi Nishioka, who was just three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the spot where the bomb exploded, told ceremony attendees of the horror he witnessed as a young teenager. 'Even the lucky ones (who were not severely injured) gradually began to bleed from their gums and lose their hair, and one after another they died,' he recalled. 'Even though the war was over, the atomic bomb brought invisible terror.' Nagasaki resident Atsuko Higuchi told AFP it 'made her happy' that everyone would remember the city's victims. 'Instead of thinking that these events belong to the past, we must remember that these are real events that took place,' the 50-year-old said. On Saturday, 200-300 people attending mass at Nagasaki's Immaculate Conception Cathedral heard the two bells ring together for the first time since 1945. One of them, 61-year-old Akio Watanabe, said he had been waiting since he was a young man to hear the bells chime together. The restoration is a 'symbol of reconciliation', he said, tears streaming down his face. The imposing red-brick cathedral, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred meters away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from US churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower, and chimed Saturday at the exact moment the bomb was dropped. 'Working together for peace' The cathedral's chief priest, Kenichi Yamamura, told AFP 'it's not about forgetting the wounds of the past but recognizing them and taking action to repair and rebuild, and in doing so, working together for peace.' He also sees the chimes as a message to the world, shaken by multiple conflicts and caught in a frantic new arms race. Nearly 100 countries were set to participate in this year's commemorations, including Russia, which has not been invited since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Israel, whose ambassador was not invited last year over the war in Gaza, was in attendance. An American university professor, whose grandfather participated in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons, spearheaded the bell project. During his research in Nagasaki, a Japanese Christian told him he would like to hear the two bells of the cathedral ring together in his lifetime. Inspired by the idea, James Nolan, a sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, embarked on a year-long series of lectures about the atomic bomb across the United States, primarily in churches. 'In tears' He managed to raise $125,000 from American Catholics to fund the new bell. When it was unveiled in Nagasaki in the spring, 'the reactions were magnificent. There were people literally in tears,' said Nolan. Many American Catholics he met were also unaware of the painful history of Nagasaki's Christians, who, converted in the 16th century by the first European missionaries and then persecuted by Japanese shoguns, kept their faith alive clandestinely for over 250 years. This story was told in the novel 'Silence' by Shusaku Endo, and adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016. He explains that American Catholics also showed 'compassion and sadness' upon hearing about the perseverance of Nagasaki's Christians after the atomic bomb, which killed 8,500 of the parish's 12,000 faithful. They were inspired by the 'willingness to forgive and rebuild.'
Arab News
09-08-2025
- Arab News
Restored Nagasaki bell rings in 80 years since US atomic bombing
NAGASAKI, Japan: Twin cathedral bells rang in unison Saturday in Japan's Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment the atrocity took place. On Aug. 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m., three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. After heavy downpours Saturday morning, the rain stopped shortly before a moment of silence and ceremony in which Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki urged the world to 'stop armed conflicts immediately.' 'Eighty years have passed, and who could have imagined that the world would become like this? 'A crisis that could threaten the survival of humanity, such as a nuclear war, is looming over each and every one of us living on this planet.' About 74,000 people were killed in the southwestern port city, on top of the 140,000 killed in Hiroshima. Days later, on Aug. 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that often came with being a hibakusha. Ninety-three-year-old survivor Hiroshi Nishioka, who was just three kilometers from the spot where the bomb exploded, told ceremony attendees of the horror he witnessed as a young teenager. 'Even the lucky ones (who were not severely injured) gradually began to bleed from their gums and lose their hair, and one after another they died,' he recalled. 'Even though the war was over, the atomic bomb brought invisible terror.' Nagasaki resident Atsuko Higuchi said it 'made her happy' that everyone would remember the city's victims. 'Instead of thinking that these events belong to the past, we must remember that these are real events that took place,' the 50-year-old said. On Saturday, the two bells of Nagasaki's Immaculate Conception Cathedral rang together for the first time since 1945. The imposing red-brick cathedral, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred meters away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from US churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower, and chimed Saturday at the exact moment the bomb was dropped. The cathedral's chief priest, Kenichi Yamamura, said the bell's restoration 'shows the greatness of humanity.' 'It's not about forgetting the wounds of the past but recognizing them and taking action to repair and rebuild, and in doing so, working together for peace,' Yamamura said. He also sees the chimes as a message to the world, shaken by multiple conflicts and caught in a frantic new arms race. 'We should not respond to violence with violence, but rather demonstrate through our way of living, praying, how senseless it is to take another's life,' he said. Nearly 100 countries were set to participate in this year's commemorations, including Russia, which has not been invited since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Israel, whose ambassador was not invited last year over the war in Gaza, was in attendance. An American university professor, whose grandfather participated in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons, spearheaded the bell project. During his research in Nagasaki, a Japanese Christian told him he would like to hear the two bells of the cathedral ring together in his lifetime. Inspired by the idea, James Nolan, a sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, embarked on a year-long series of lectures about the atomic bomb across the United States, primarily in churches. He managed to raise $125,000 from American Catholics to fund the new bell. When it was unveiled in Nagasaki in the spring, 'the reactions were magnificent. There were people literally in tears,' said Nolan. Many American Catholics he met were also unaware of the painful history of Nagasaki's Christians, who, converted in the 16th century by the first European missionaries and then persecuted by Japanese shoguns, kept their faith alive clandestinely for over 250 years. This story was told in the novel 'Silence' by Shusaku Endo, and adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016. He explains that American Catholics also showed 'compassion and sadness' upon hearing about the perseverance of Nagasaki's Christians after the atomic bomb, which killed 8,500 of the parish's 12,000 faithful. They were inspired by the 'willingness to forgive and rebuild.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
07-08-2025
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Mothers in Gaza Stretch Meager Ingredients Where They Can, but Say Hunger Persists
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