Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
A 12-year-old Rohingya girl named “Ayesha Sadiqa Agha” committed suicide inside her shelter in Camp 8W (sub-sector A-46) in Cox’s Bazar area on Thursday evening, which caused shock and sadness among her family and community members.
According to witnesses speaking to the Arakan News Agency, the incident occurred around 11:30 PM, where the girl was found lifeless inside the shelter, while the motives behind the suicide remain unclear.
Ayesha was known for her academic diligence and ambition, embodying the aspirations of Rohingya girls in the camps. However, her sudden departure highlighted the enormous psychological pressures children and youth face amid harsh displacement conditions.
Community members described the incident as a “tragic loss” and called for the enhancement of psychological and social support services within the camps, especially for children and adolescents experiencing displacement traumas and a lack of opportunities.
Rohingya in the camps suffer from severe overcrowding and extreme poverty with an uncertain future. Activists affirm that the lack of psychological care is a major factor in the increasing humanitarian crises.
The suicide of Ayesha serves as a tragic reminder of the need to provide education, care, and protection for Rohingya children, alongside psychological support ensuring them a more secure and stable life.
Last May, a Rohingya youth named “Shafi Alam” aged 27 was found hanged inside his shelter in Camp 2W for refugees in Bangladesh, in an incident suspected to be a suicide prompted by severe psychological pressures. Earlier in April, a woman, a mother of four, committed suicide by ingesting poison inside a camp in the Ukhiya area.
Available reports indicate that suicide cases among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps represent an increasing concern, though precise statistical data on suicide rates remain limited.
According to a comprehensive review published in the Intervention journal, it is noted that Rohingya refugees suffer from high levels of psychological disorders, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
These issues are attributed to their exposure to severe trauma in Myanmar, coupled with the difficult living conditions in the camps, such as overcrowding, unemployment, lack of security, and rising violence.
Bangladesh hosts over a million Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar area camps, which the United Nations classifies as the world’s largest refugee camp. Refugees have been living in dire humanitarian conditions since fleeing Myanmar in 2017 due to the genocidal campaign launched against them by the Myanmar Army, and their situation worsened following renewed fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan separatist army in November 2023.
