INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Even as dehydration was getting to their passengers, the traffickers using boats to carry hundreds of Rohingya away from refugee camps in
boat, she fell unconscious and later died from dehydration.Death, abuse and torture are common features of the boat journeys provided by a
growing network of human traffickers
It claimed this was in response to attacks by a fringe Rohingya rebel group
It involved documented cases of mass killings of civilians, rape and the wholesale destruction of Rohingya villages - since described by the
placed harsh restrictions on movement, work and education, in a policy aimed at ensuring the Rohingya do not settle in Bangladesh for the
who often claim to be fighting for the Rohingya cause but are more often associated with criminality, including killing and kidnapping other
Rohingya for ransom and drug smuggling.Traffickers offer an escape route from desperate conditions in the camps, but often extort ransoms
from their families en route
larger network that trafficked tens of thousands of people until 2015, when it was closed down with the discovery of mass graves in
Thailand.The prospect of a safe return to Myanmar remains ever distant for the Rohingya, who were stripped of citizenship in 1982 based on
their ethnicity, with still no assurances made for their safety by the Myanmar military, who are also facing a civil war.Thank you for your
feedback.Rohingya trafficking victims and their families have told the Guardian of being held at sea or in jungles until their families make
traffickers once refugees have begun journeys from Bangladesh to south-east Asia, where they believe they can live and work more freely than
daughter Rehana Begum after promising to take her to Indonesia by boat
Photograph: Kaamil Ahmed/The GuardianWomen, many of whom are being trafficked for marriage in Malaysia to Rohingya men, are vulnerable to
sexual violence at the hands of traffickers.Malaysia, where more than 100,000 Rohingya are registered by the UN, was for years the preferred
destination, but rising anti-Rohingya hostility has meant traffickers now take many to Indonesia.Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee campsThe
locations were a key part of the process, despite many having paid upfront or made agreements to pay once they had reached their
destination.View image in fullscreenA man gives water to a Rohingya man after he swam ashore in Pineung, Aceh province, on 16 November 2023,
where more than 800 Rohingya refugees had arrived in the past week
Photograph: Amanda Jufrian/AFP/Getty ImagesSeveral Rohingya describe trafficking camps in Shamila, not far from the Bangladeshi border in
An 18-year-old Rohingya man told the Guardian that in Thailand he witnessed traffickers beating others and slashing them with knives to
demand payments from their families.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Global DispatchGet a different world view with a roundup of the
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If only I had the money, I would get on a boat and leaveAziz, a Rohingya man who arrived in Indonesia in November after 17 days at sea, says
he witnessed a woman die from dehydration on an overcrowded boat that had 280 people on it
He said they performed a funeral prayer and then buried her at sea.Bangladesh, which wants the Rohingya to return to Myanmar, has built
Most forms of education have been prohibited and the Rohingya are not allowed to work
midnight, dragged him into the street and hit him with a hammer
unable to work since, losing what he earned as an informal labourer and having to rely on the meagre food rations provided to the refugees
spoken to recently arrived refugees in Indonesia
with traffickers to help convince fellow refugees to travel abroad says he now regrets selling his own people
Photograph: Kaamil Ahmed/The GuardianMeanwhile, the trafficking network continues to operate and people still leave the camps, searching for
a better life but vulnerable to profit-motivated traffickers
The former broker says their work grows because everyone profits, even Rohingya community leaders and camp authorities, who are paid to turn
This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com
