Bangladesh varsity hosts discussion on displacement crisis in South Asia
Dhaka-based North South University hosts book launch examining refugee realities across South Asia as global displacement hits record levels
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — As global forced displacement climbs to unprecedented levels, South Asia is emerging as both a refuge for millions fleeing violence and a region increasingly shaped by political exclusion, protracted conflict and climate-driven displacement.
These overlapping crises were placed under scrutiny this week at North South University, a leading private university in the Bangladeshi capital, during a discussion on Displacement and Refugee Issues in South Asia: Uncovering the Contested Realities, a new volume published by Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
The book examines displacement across Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka — countries that together host some of the world’s largest displaced populations while lacking comprehensive refugee protection frameworks.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 123 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of 2024, with the overwhelming majority hosted by low- and middle-income countries.
Editors and contributors to the volume argue that South Asia’s displacement challenge cannot be understood only through emergency relief or border control. Instead, they point to structural drivers — including citizenship laws, ethnic exclusion, prolonged wars and environmental degradation — that continue to uproot communities while leaving host states to manage long-term consequences with limited international support.
Anthropologist Bulbul Siddiqi, the book’s editor, said the volume seeks to centre the everyday realities of displaced people rather than treating them as temporary humanitarian cases. He stressed that displacement in South Asia has become a long-term condition, raising urgent questions about dignity, social cohesion and responsibility-sharing across the region.
Several chapters focus on the Rohingya crisis, in which more than one million people from Myanmar remain displaced, most of them in camps in Bangladesh. Contributors warned that social cohesion between refugees and host communities has weakened over time, increasing the risk of prolonged instability if political solutions remain absent.
The book also examines Afghan displacement shaped by decades of conflict, as well as climate-induced migration across riverine and coastal regions of South Asia, where rising sea levels, floods and extreme weather are already forcing internal and cross-border movement.
Kaisayr Husein, a Rohingya scholar and contributing author, underscored that displacement from Myanmar cannot be resolved without political accountability inside the country, cautioning against approaches that treat host nations as permanent containment zones rather than addressing root causes.
The discussion highlighted a shared regional dilemma: while South Asian states absorb large displaced populations, most lack national refugee laws, relying instead on ad hoc policies that leave refugees legally vulnerable and politically marginalized.
University officials said the event reflected a broader effort to bring South Asia’s displacement realities into global conversations that often focus on Europe or North America, despite the Global South bearing the heaviest burden.
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