Negotiat-ions are ongoing between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to formulate a plan to repatriate the Rohingyas who have sought refuge in Bangladesh fleeing the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military.

This year's Asean Summit ended on November 15 with the commitment to forge cooperation for peace, security and development. Asean and other world leaders attending the summit also pledged to boost business, investment and trade.

Out of the 40 million victims of modern slavery worldwide, almost two thirds—25 million people—are exploited in Asia and the Pacific. Making the region host to the largest number of victims of modern slavery today.

The Bangladesh government has been globally lauded—and rightfully so—for welcoming with open arms, once again, the persecuted Rohingya people with whom the country has a checkered history. The Rohingyas came to Bangladesh in droves in 1978, 1992, and the 2010s.

We are all commodities. Different parts of us are up for sale, as and when demand dictates, all the time. But it causes significant discomfort in me when vulnerable bodies are transformed into commodities.

Since August 25, 2017, the world has experienced one of the most brutal and fastest-growing humanitarian crises that led to the “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” involving the Rohingya community in Myanmar.

But, as happens in the world, we forgot Langadu. The Rangamati landslides, the flash floods, the influx of Rohingya refugees followed one after another, and in trying to cope and deal with each, the limelight shifted from the previous crises. So, six months later, it is pertinent to ask, how is the Chakma community in Langadu carrying on?

According to Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, a total of 494 children were raped in the eight months from January till August this year—among them 58 were gang-raped. According to their statistics, 37 disabled children were raped during this time, while 46 were victims of attempted rape.

Each refugee exodus looks different—in the numbers of human beings and the duration of their journey, in the acts of violence and atrocity, in the intensity of human suffering.

October 16 marks World Food Day, an annual event which this year focuses on food security, conflict, displacement and migration. To date, about a million Rohingyas have fled Rakhine State of Myanmar, over half of them since August 25 this year.

It is often said that if you want to know the truth about the world, ask a child. Perhaps, it's an unconditioned mind that lets a child see things for what they really are.

On May 18, 2008, the High Court granted citizenship to the Biharis who were brought over to Bangladesh as minors, or were born after independence. This brought an end to their statelessness, and opened up prospects of education, employment and travel to a community that had been cooped up in camps and refused repatriation.

Two parties are widely blamed for the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas: the Myanmar army and Aung San Suu Kyi. They stand amid the embers and ashes of torched Rohingya homes, objects of a furious global condemnation.

Driving south from Cox's Bazar along the marine drive, it is impossible not to be struck by the beauty of the sea on the right and the hills on the left. But before long a few lost and disoriented-looking faces appear until eventually the highway is lined with thousands of them.

Endless streams of Rohingyas have crossed the Naf River into Bangladesh. The deaths of children at sea stand out most vividly. Rohingyas have left behind everything they had once known in the face of the Myanmar military's brutalities against their own people.

Discrimination is often the transference of moral degradation to others. The Maldives presents many examples of it in its treatment of migrant workers. Take Malé's old Sultan Park, now upgraded and renamed Rasrani Bageecha.

Of the nearly half a million Rohingya refugees who've fled across the border and have sought refuge in Bangladesh, women and girls are the most at risk, sleeping under open skies, roadsides, and forest areas with little or no protection.

Don't the pundits who make the decisions know that acknowledging them as refugees will accord them rights; foremost among them is the right to return. It also obligates the international community for “burden sharing”.

The goal in genocidal rape is not simply to hurt people or to have sex. The goal is Group Destruction. Sexual violence is not simply an auxiliary tool employed to advance this goal, but given the nature of rape and sexual torture, it is the ultimate weapon.

Media reports about the abuse of children tell us a chilling story that we have suddenly become a nation which doesn't value its children, which takes cruelty against them as a matter of routine, and which doesn't feel ashamed when a 5-year-old girl is raped in front of her parents.