UNHCR is working to
identify and assess the best interests of unaccompanied children who recently
arrived in the refugee camps of Bangladesh.
By: Vivian Tan
10 April 2017
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Many Rohingya
children like these, photographed in February 2016,
live in overcrowded
makeshift sites in Bangladesh after fleeing
violence in Myanmar. © UNHCR/Saiful Huq Omi
|
UKHIYA, Bangladesh –
At their age, Asif and Suleman* should be running around, kicking up dirt,
giving their parents trouble. Instead the young brothers sit like statues,
staring blankly with dull eyes.
Suleman is 12 and
Asif eight, but they look much younger than their peers. In recent weeks, their
daily routine has consisted of religious school and private English lessons. No
play and only sporadic sleep.
“I have dreams of
happy children playing,” said Suleman unexpectedly. “But in my dreams we can’t
play with them. I’m always afraid. If something falls on the ground or there is
a sudden noise, I jump and remember what happened.”
The boys are among
many distressed Rohingya children who have arrived in Bangladesh since October
last year, when a security crackdown in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state tore
them from their families. More than 70,000 people are estimated to have fled to
Bangladesh in the last five months; as many as half could be children aged
under 18 years.
“I’m always afraid.”
Suleman and Asif
were playing in their backyard when their home was raided. They ran away,
unable to save their little brother who was playing in the front of the house.
They believed their parents were shot and killed in the attack, but do not know if their brother survived.
Fleeing with some
neighbours, they were eventually taken to their uncle Mustafa in Bangladesh,
who had fled earlier in October with his family. Today they live in a makeshift
shelter and have received some rice and relief supplies.
Beyond their
immediate needs, these boys will need psychosocial counselling to help them
overcome the loss of their loved ones and the violence they have witnessed.
In Kutupalong and
Nayapara refugee camps, multi-age play spaces have been set up to help address
mental distress.
“Play is essential
for all children to build a foundation for learning, but it is particularly
important for refugee children because of its therapeutic role,” said Marzia
Dalto, UNHCR’s Protection Officer in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. “When properly
managed, safe and imaginative play can help to reduce stress and optimize brain
development. It can provide healing opportunities for children’s emotional
trauma and offer hope to break the cycle of physical and emotional violence.”
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| Asif, 8, and Suleman, 12, say their parents were killed in the violence
near Maungdaw, Myanmar. © UNHCR |
For some, play can
feel like a luxury. Kamal*, 12, lost his parents during the violence in
Myanmar. With nothing to their name, he and three elder sisters fled to
Bangladesh in November. They had to borrow 80,000 kyat (US$60) from a neighbour
to pay for a boat to cross the Naf River.
In Bangladesh, they
were found by a long-staying Rohingya refugee, Noor Kaida, who decided to host
them despite having four children of her own.
“I came across these
children crying at a graveyard nearby,” said Noor Kaida, 27, who herself fled
Myanmar as a baby with her parents. “I took them in because they have nothing,
no one. They are so vulnerable and we have a moral responsibility for them.”
“They are so
vulnerable and we have a moral responsibility for them.”
As the only boy,
Kamal volunteered to work at a tea shop in town. He barely comes back to their
shelter anymore.
His eldest sister
Talifa*, 18, worries incessantly: “They are still so young. How we will find
food and clothing, how we will survive? We are also in debt to our neighbour
for the boat fees. He keeps asking and I promised to beg or do whatever I can
to repay him.”
Their host says she
will shelter them for as long as she can – “until they find their own shelter
or get married.”
Good intentions
aside, the presence of so many unaccompanied minors raises serious protection
concerns around the risk of child labour, early marriage, trafficking and
sexual exploitation.
UNHCR has mobilized
community support groups involving women and youth in the refugee camps to
reach out to these vulnerable children. The agency is also working with
partners to trace family members where possible, and to assess the best
interests of those who have no surviving family. Options could range from
tracing and reunification with close relatives, to appointing guardians or
foster families who can offer care and guidance.
“I think of my
parents often,” said Talifa. “We bear the pain inside but we have to deal with
it.”
*Names changed for
protection reasons”