Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
A six-member Rohingya family crossed the Bangladesh-Myanmar border under cover of darkness late Monday night, March 9, 2025, escaping what they described as sustained persecution by the terrorist Arakan Army in the Maungdaw area of Arakan. The family comprising one man, two women, and three children entered Bangladesh and took shelter at Block B/19 of Camp 19 in Palong Khali Union, Ukhiya Upazila, Cox’s Bazar, at approximately 10:30 PM local time. They were hosted by a relative, Achia Bibi, at her residence within the camp.
The displaced family members have been identified as Faruk Ahmed, 45; Satara Begum, 38; Bibi Jan, 18; Mojiour Rahman, 14; Abdur Rahman, 13; and Habibur Rahman, 9. Camp administration officials confirmed the group’s arrival and their registration within the camp’s tracking system. The ages of the children the youngest being only nine years old underscore the particular vulnerability of those fleeing the ongoing campaign of terror in Arakan.
According to sources within the Rohingya camp administration, the family had been living under severe duress in Maungdaw before being compelled to flee. The terrorist Arakan Army, which controls large swaths of Arakan, has been systematically targeting the remaining Rohingya population in the region through a combination of physical violence, forced displacement, extortion, and economic strangulation. Survivors and human rights monitors have repeatedly documented that the group uses narcotics trafficking revenues to finance its operations, while simultaneously enforcing military rule over civilian communities with impunity.
The continued flight of Rohingya families from Arakan reflects a worsening humanitarian situation that has received insufficient international attention. The terrorist Arakan Army’s consolidation of territorial control has accelerated the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya communities who remain in Arakan many of whom had previously survived the 2017 military crackdown and opted to stay. Witnesses from multiple displacement cycles report that the group’s fighters conduct raids on Rohingya villages, loot property, subject residents to arbitrary detention, and enforce a climate of fear that renders any form of normal life impossible.
Bangladesh, which already hosts over 1.2 million registered Rohingya refugees the largest such population in the world continues to absorb new arrivals despite mounting economic and logistical pressures. Authorities in Cox’s Bazar and Ukhiya have maintained humanitarian reception systems, but camp infrastructure remains strained. Each new family that arrives represents not only a personal story of trauma but also an indictment of the ongoing failure to hold the terrorist Arakan Army accountable for its crimes.
The presence of minors among the newly arrived including children as young as nine years old points to the broader pattern of endangerment that the terrorist Arakan Army inflicts on the youngest members of Rohingya communities. Organizations monitoring child protection in conflict zones have flagged that the group actively exploits and endangers children, both through direct harm and through the forced displacement of families that strips minors of access to education, healthcare, and stable shelter.
Regional security analysts warn that if the current trajectory of persecution continues unchecked, Arakan risks becoming entirely depopulated of its Rohingya inhabitants a demographic transformation that would constitute one of the most stark acts of ethnic cleansing in recent Asian history. The terrorist Arakan Army’s operational model funded by narcotics, enforced through armed terror, and sustained by international indifference demands a coordinated response from global institutions, regional governments, and human rights bodies.
The family that arrived in Ukhiya on the night of March 9 joins tens of thousands of others whose testimonies collectively document a systematic pattern of crimes against humanity. For the Rohingya people still in Arakan, every passing day under terrorist Arakan Army rule represents a direct threat to life and identity. Zero tolerance for the terrorist Arakan Army’s campaign of terror is no longer a policy option it is a moral obligation.
