Refugees Awaiting Future Return to Myanmar Need Safer
Camps*
The 68-page report, “‘Bangladesh Is Not My Country’: The
Plight of Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar,” is based on a May 2018 visit to
Cox’s Bazar. Human Rights Watch found that the mega camp is severely
overcrowded. The average usable space is 10.7 square meters per person,
compared with the recommended international standard of 45 square meters per
person. Densely packed refugees are at heightened risk of communicable
diseases, fires, community tensions, and domestic and sexual violence.
Bangladeshi authorities should relocate Rohingya refugees to smaller, less
densely packed camps on flatter, accessible, nearby land within the same Ukhiya
subdistrict where the mega camp is located, Human Rights Watch said.
“Bangladesh Is Not My Country”
The Plight of Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar
Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Response to HRW Questions
“বাাংলাদেশ আমার দেশ
নয়”
মায়ানমারেে রোহিঙ্গা শেণার্থীরেে দুেদ শা
“Bangladesh has rightfully garnered international praise
for receiving 700,000 Rohingya refugees, though they still face difficult
conditions,” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at Human Rights Watch
and author of the report. “Bangladesh should register fleeing Rohingya as
refugees, ensure adequate health care and education, and let them pursue
livelihoods outside the camp.”
Many of the new Rohingya arrivals, plus another 200,000 who had fled previous waves of persecution in Myanmar, are living in what has become the world’s largest refugee camp, Kutupalong-Balukhali Expansion Camp. Despite efforts by the refugees and aid agencies to strengthen huts, build safer infrastructure, and develop safety plans, the camps and their residents have remained highly vulnerable to catastrophic weather conditions. On July 25, five children were killed in flooding and landslides.
Bangladeshi authorities, to maintain pressure on Myanmar
to agree to the return of the refugees, insist that the camps are temporary.
This, however, contributes to the poor conditions in the camps, as the
government has blocked the construction of permanent structures, including
cyclone-resistant buildings, and has not allowed for other infrastructure that
would suggest longer-term stay. Educational opportunities are inadequate.
“I live in fear of landslides,” said a 26-year-old mother
of four living in a hut on a steep slope in the camp. “I keep putting sandbags
next to our hut to keep it from sliding down the hill. I would like to relocate
to a safer place. I think about it all the time. No one has talked to me or
offered relocation.”
Relocation of a significant number of refugees to less
densely packed camps, with fewer environmental risks and adequate standards of
services, is crucial for the health and well-being of all the refugees, Human
Rights Watch said. However, this needs to be done with the consultation and
consent of the refugees to keep their displaced village communities intact and
maintain contact with the broader Rohingya refugee community.
The Bangladesh navy and Chinese construction crews have
prepared the uninhabited island of Bhasan Char for the transfer of refugees
from the Cox’s Bazar area. The Bangladeshi foreign ministry, in response to a
letter from Human Rights Watch, said that since the refugee presence “is
destroying the overall economic, social, environmental situation,” the
government would soon start relocating 100,000 Rohingya to Bhasan Char, which
will be fortified by an embankment to protect from high tides and waves.
However, the mangrove-and-grass island, formed only in the last 20 years by
silt from Bangladesh’s Meghna River, appears unsuitable for accommodating the
refugees. Experts predict that Bhasan Char could become completely submerged in
the event of a strong cyclone during a high tide.
The island would most likely have very limited access to
education and health services, and few opportunities for livelihoods or
self-sufficiency. The government has made no commitment to allow refugees’
freedom of movement in and from Bhasan Char. In addition to Bhasan Char’s
environmental failings, housing refugees there would unnecessarily isolate
them, and preventing them from leaving would essentially turn the island into a
detention center.
Bhasan Char is not the only relocation option. Experts
pointed out six feasible relocation sites in Ukhiya subdistrict totaling more
than 1,300 acres which could accommodate 263,000 people. These sites are in an
eight-kilometer stretch almost due west of the Kutupalong-Balukhali Expansion
Camp, toward the coast.
The Bangladeshi foreign ministry said that while
Bangladesh was providing basic needs, “the ultimate solution of the Rohingya
problem lies in the safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return” of the
refugees. The ministry said they had already released 6,000 acres of reserve
forest, and due to the existing “land shortage of our own population,” no
further alternative land was available. They said the only other possible
alternative settlement was in Bhasan Char.
Donor governments and intergovernmental organizations
should be genuinely and robustly involved in supporting Bangladesh to meet the
humanitarian needs of all Rohingya refugees. They should fund the humanitarian
appeal for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, but also apply concerted and
persistent pressure on Myanmar to meet all conditions necessary for safe,
dignified, and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees.
The refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch all said
they wanted to return to Myanmar, but only when conditions allow them to return
voluntarily. These include citizenship, recognition of their Rohingya identity,
justice for crimes committed against them, return of homes and property, and
assurances of security, peace, and respect for their rights.
“It has been nearly one year since Myanmar’s campaign of
killings, rape, and arson drove the Rohingya refugees across the border.
Responsibility for this crisis lies with Myanmar, even though the burdens of
this mass influx have mostly fallen on Bangladesh,” Frelick said. “Myanmar’s
failure to take any meaningful actions to address recent atrocities against the
Rohingya, or the decades-long discrimination and repression against the
population, is at the root of delays in refugees being able to go home.”