Ban on marriage with Rohingya refugees

The government has prohibited marriages between Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis, considering that such marriages create social and cultural problems and force it to give citizenship to refugees.
The inspector general of registration under the law ministry issued a circular yesterday, asking the marriage registration offices across the country to prevent kazis from conducting any marriage between refugees, who are the nationals of Myanmar, and Bangladeshi citizens.
Referring to the circular, IGR Khan Md Abdul Mannan told The Daily Star that legal action would be taken against kazis from now on for registering marriages between Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.
Their licences may be cancelled or they may be dismissed from their jobs, if they do it in violation of the order, he said.
Rohingya refugees, who live in a certain area in the country, wed Bangladeshi nationals, and after the marriage they get citizenship and Bangladeshi passport, the IGR said.

With the passports, Rohingyas went to different countries, including Saudi Arabia, and committed crimes there tarnishing the image of the country. The government even faced many problems because of them, Abdul Mannan added.
About the government's move, human rights activist and jurist Shahdeen Malik told The Daily Star the right of two adult persons to marry each other is recognised by all international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.
The prohibition on the marriages between Rohingyas and Bangladeshis is certainly an unconstitutional restriction and discrimination against the right to life, he added.