Participation and Inclusion in the Rohingya Refugee Response in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. “We Never Speak First”

Between August and September 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, settling in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in what fast became the world’s largest and densest refugee settlement. Fleeing a widespread and systematic campaign of violence by Myanmar’s armed forces, they joined existing populations of Rohingya driven into Bangladesh by similar military ‘clearance’ operations in 1978, 1991 and 2016. This most recent and by far the largest wave of displacement is now entering its fifth year. With Myanmar wracked by an ongoing military coup amid widespread popular resistance, prospects for refugees’ safe return remain remote for the foreseeable future