Date of publication:

08/21/2025

Bangladesh

Do domestic laws and policies provide for family reunification for forcibly displaced and stateless persons?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Assessment by population
Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Analysis

Domestic laws and policies of Bangladesh do not have any framework that grants the right to family reunification to any person. The family reunification of the refugees and asylum seekers are also not addressed within the domestic legal framework. The country is currently hosting more than a million refugees, but the nation lacks a formal legal framework for refugees and asylum seekers since it is not a signatory to either the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol. However, despite absence of legal framework, refugees can access to the right of family reunification through different agencies and sponsors though in a very limited scale and capacity. UNHCR provides support to the refugees or asylum seekers in case of family reunification considering it as a part of durable solution under complementary pathways as it falls under the mandate of UNHCR. However, the initiative for family reunification is not taken by UNHCR. In these cases, the initiative is taken by the sponsors in each case or the embassy of the relevant 3rd country who usually provides the right to family reunification. UNHCR serving in Bangladesh assist in data collection of the refugees, provide support in documentation and verification of the concerned refugee or asylum seeker.