STAFF ACCOUNT: Fragile hope tested as Rohingya mark eight years since seeking safety in Bangladesh

Shahidul Haque is Save the Children’s Advocacy, Communications and Media Director in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Having worked on the response for six years and living close to the refugee camps himself, he has seen firsthand how worsening conditions—exacerbated this year by recent aid cuts—are affecting a generation of children growing up in the world’s largest refugee camps.

 

This month marks eight years since over 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled violence in Myanmar to seek safety in Bangladesh.

Eight years on, over one million Rohingya remain in exile in Cox’s Bazar – the world’s largest refugee camps.

Out of those eight years, I have spent six working on the Rohingya response, living close to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

This year marks perhaps one of the worst years for the Rohingya since the crisis began. Aid cuts, including cuts to education, have all contributed to an increasingly dire situation for the children and families who live here.

I feel the scorching sun and the monsoon rain on my skin just like the Rohingya children and their parents and guardians do. These children’s futures are important to me and that’s why it pains me to see support for the Rohingya being significantly scaled back.

I see my own children once a month, a 400 km (250 mile) journey to the capital, Dhaka. But my heart doesn't feel the same weight as a Rohingya father's.

My children have the promise of safety and a future but for any Rohingya father, these are distant dreams. The reality for Rohingya children is a life punctuated by fear and insecurity, driven by violence in the camps, shrinking aid, lack of safe opportunities to learn and play, and the reality that returning home is not safe or an option.

With so many crises happening around the world that are also hurting children – the Rohingya crisis risks being forgotten. But it is far from over.

Over the last 18 months, new arrivals have fled escalating conflict, violence and hunger in Myanmar.

With international funding to support the Rohingya response reduced, the children that we work with are at risk and my heart tells me that the world is failing them.

Health and education services are closing their doors or significantly scaling back. About 65% of the camp’s 6,400 learning centres have already shut. These were not just learning centres – they were spaces that offered children respite from their daily struggles.

I recently met Josna*, a 14-year-old girl, on a rainy day in the densely populated camps. Her family fled to Bangladesh eight years ago.

Josna used to attend a learning centre and is eager to continue her education. However, without formal accreditation, her studies were not recognised and she was forced to stop. Now, with a new Multi-Purpose Child and Adolescent Centre (MPCAC) supported by Save the Children and partners nearby, she has found a refuge.

At the centre, Josna is allowed to be a child. She plays skip rope with friends and learns about life skills as well as the dangers of early marriage and child labour.

When she told me, "It's the only time for myself," I saw a flicker of hope.

Parents in the camps have also expressed deepening fear and frustration for their children as food rations kick in— fears that desperation could lead to child marriage, increased violence and trafficking, all of which are daily risks for children growing up here.

Every year we see news headlines about Rohingya children and families making desperate and often dangerous journeys across seas in search of better lives elsewhere. Some end up dead – their dreams drowned in water.

Eight years on, the world has a choice: restore hope or condemn another generation of Rohingya to despair. Cuts to food, education, and protection are not just budget lines — they are lifelines being severed. Governments and donors must fully fund the humanitarian response, reverse these cuts, and commit to long-term solutions that give Rohingya children safety, accredited education, and pathways to self-reliance.

Save the Children has been working in Cox’s Bazar since 2012 and increased activities significantly following the 2017 exodus of refugees to Bangladesh with programmes in education, health and nutrition, food, water, shelter and child protection services. But underfunding has severely hampered humanitarian efforts to support refugees and hosts in Bangladesh.

*name changed to conceal identity.