Work & workplace rights

Rohingya refugees lack the legal right to work in Bangladesh and are not safeguarded by the nation’s labor protection laws. The Constitution of Bangladesh restricts the right to work to its citizens, excluding refugees and asylum-seekers from this entitlement. Although the 2006 Labour Act theoretically applies to the entire country, including non-citizens, it is overridden by the Constitution. The Foreigners Order of 1951 further imposes restrictions on employment for non-citizens, requiring special permission for foreigners to work in certain sectors. For any non-national to work in Bangladesh, one must obtain a valid visa with a work permit authorized by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Government’s visa policy does not include refugees as a category to issue a work visa. 

In practice, Rohingya refugees are informally employed both inside and outside of the camps. Work opportunities are predominantly limited to low paid, unskilled, and unauthorized work where employment is irregular and conditions are suboptimal, exposing refugees to potential exploitation and physical risks. In addition, though child labor laws in Bangladesh prohibit the employment of children under 14 and regulate the employment of adolescents aged 14 to 18, many refugee children are forced into informal labor to help meet their families’ basic needs.

The Government's stance is that Rohingya refugees are temporarily in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds, pending their return to Myanmar, and thus their needs should be met through humanitarian programs rather than integrated into national development plans. In 2022, the Government of Bangladesh endorsed the “Government of Bangladesh-United Nations Framework on Skills Development for Rohingya Refugees/Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals and Host Communities” allowing limited skills development for Rohingya refugees in camps located in Cox’s Bazar District and on Bhasan Char Island. The Government also endorsed volunteer guidelines in 2022 allowing refugees to engage in stipend-earning volunteer work as part of the humanitarian response programme in the camps and on Bhasan Char Island. Economic opportunities under the above are insufficient and are limited to cash-for-work in the Rohingya response, limited skills development activities and voluntary work schemes available in the camps and on Bhasan Char Island.