A sovereignty-bound Catch-22 in refugee governance: The Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh

Since August 2017, Bangladesh has hosted over one million Rohingya refugees fleeing mass violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Using the Rohingya crisis as a case study, this article develops the concept of a ‘sovereignty-bound Catch-22’ to explain how complementary protection can prevent forced return while failing to generate durable solutions to protracted displacement. Drawing on 20 qualitative interviews with government officials and humanitarian actors in Cox's Bazar, supplemented by grey literature, the article shows that Bangladesh upholds non-refoulement while refusing formal refugee status and local integration. Meanwhile, Myanmar's denial of citizenship and continuing insecurity in Rakhine State render voluntary repatriation unviable, while resettlement remains marginal. The political framing of ‘voluntariness’ in refugee return reconciles humanitarian compliance with sovereignty concerns while entrenching long-term confinement. The findings contribute to comparative politics by showing that non-signatory host states may comply with core protection principles while using sovereignty-bound restrictions that, ultimately, contribute to protracted displacement.