Most of the refugees live in 34 camps in Cox\u2019s Bazar, including more than 740,000 who escaped a brutal crackdown in Rakhine state that began in August 2017.<\/p>\n
Restrictions like barbed-wire fencing are \u201ccounterproductive,\u201d could alienate the refugees and \u201cset the stage for greater insecurity and conflict in southern Bangladesh,\u201d the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO, said in a December 2019 report.<\/p>\n
One refugee at a Cox\u2019s Bazar camp said he didn\u2019t mind a fence around the camps, but he did mind that some of his compatriots were being called criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to Bangladesh for giving us refuge. We have nothing to say if the government builds barbed-wire fencing,\u201d Rahmat Ullah, a resident of Balukhali camp, told BenarNews.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the government should not think we are criminals. The Myanmar military has committed genocide against our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"MY-ID-Rohingya-Photo.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.benarnews.org\/english\/news\/bengali\/bd-my-id-th-rohingya-01062021114050.html\/my-id-rohingya-photo.jpg\/@@images\/592481e5-9a20-4370-ab4c-3f717c877473.jpeg\" "\\"MY-ID-Rohingya-Photo.jpg\\"")
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A Rohingya woman and child sit on a beach in Selangor after entering Malaysia illegally via boat from Indonesia, Jan.6, 2021. [Photo courtesy Selangor Fire and Rescue Department]<\/em><\/p>\n Rohingya illegally enter Malaysia from Indonesia<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile on Wednesday, authorities in Malaysia detained more than 30 Rohingya who entered the country illegally by boat from North Sumatra province in neighboring Indonesia, a police source told BenarNews.<\/p>\n The 35 Rohingya included 17 women, eight men, seven boys, and three girls, the source added.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are believed to have sailed from Bagan Asahan near Tanjung Balai in Medan, Indonesia. By the time they were apprehended, the boat they came in was long gone,\u201d said the police official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.<\/p>\n Many of the nearly 400 Rohingya refugees who landed in Indonesia\u2019s Aceh province last June and September have family members in neighboring Malaysia, Rima Shah Putra, of humanitarian group Geutanyoe Foundation, told BenarNews.<\/p>\n Malaysia has always been the destination for them, Lilianne Fan, chairperson of the Rohingya Working Group for the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, told BenarNews.<\/p>\n \u201cAll those who arrived in Aceh last year intended to come to Malaysia originally, because most of them have relatives there. They only ended up in Aceh because they were not allowed to disembark in Malaysia or Thailand,\u201d Fan said.<\/p>\n In Thailand, local media reported that immigration police on Monday had arrested 18 Rohingya in Bangkok who were illegally brought in from Rakhine state.<\/p>\n And in Myanmar, police arrested around 100 Rohingya on Wednesday after a raid at a residence in Yangon, police confirmed to the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n Police didn\u2019t give a reason for the arrest, but Myanmar often detains Rohingya for \u201cillegal travel\u201d when they try to leave their home state of Rakhine, the agency said.<\/p>\n