After Myanmar’s brutal military crackdown in 2017
triggered more than 700,000 Rohingya people to flee Rakhine State for
Bangladesh, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar quickly agreed a rapid
repatriation process. With their agreement coming up against international
opposition, as well as resistance by the Rohingya currently in refugee camps,
the prospect of Cox’s Bazar remaining a permanent home of more than one million
refugees has increased. Should the repatriation deal fail to be altered, what
challenges will this area of Bangladesh face in the coming months?
Food Security
The most pressing problem the Bangladesh government will
face in Cox’s Bazar will be feeding over one million Rohingya refugees in Ukhia
and Teknaf. Maintaining the large number of refugees in these areas with a
regular supply of food is a big challenge for any country. But for one of the
most densely populated countries in the world, it will be huge.
A report of UNHCR UK published
earlier this year stated that the food-needs alone account for 25 per cent of
the total relief needed. The report specified that this equates to over 16
million litres of safe water needed every day, and some 12,200 metric tons of
food needed every month; at least 180,000 families also need cooking fuel. http://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2018/3/5aabd2564/un-launches-2018-appeal-rohingya-refugees-bangladeshi-host-communities.html
After the initial support Bangladesh received from
countries around the world, as well as international donor agencies and UN
bodies, help has gradually slowed. The Bangladesh government estimated that
between August last year and the end of March this year $434 million has been
spent on the refugee camps. With $322 million coming from donations and aid,
the remaining $112 million has been paid by the Bangladesh government. An
estimate shows that taking care of the Rohingya refugees for the rest of the
year would require a further $950 million, and the next
seven years would require another $4,433 million. Unless international
financial support increases, Bangladesh will have to bear a huge financial
burden. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2018/05/14/cpd-rohingya-crisis-affecting-bangladesh-society-economy-adversely
Law and Order
Another major issue for Bangladesh is maintaining law and
order in Cox’s Bazar. Conflict between and among Rohingya refugees is growing
at an alarming rate. During the last year, a considerable number of violent
incidents have occurred, including the death of 22 Rohingya people inside the
camps. In addition, some NGOs have been banned from working in the camps after
facing accusations of mobilising refugees against the
repatriation process in the form of anti-repatriation demonstrations. http://www.newagebd.net/article/49253/restrictions-on-41-ngos-irk-development-workers
A strong illegal network of markets is also growing.
These see relief-goods, food, and other everyday essentials sold in
Chittagong’s markets. A group of small mobile Bengali business people, along
with some Rohingya refugees, have begun selling relief-goods donated to the
camps, such as baby-food, stationary goods, sanitary tool kits, clothes,
medicine and other items, Journalists have documented such items being sold in
Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong Hill Tracts and Chittagong under signboards that read
‘Shops of Rohingya Relief.’
Inside the camps more and more reports are also emerging
of Rohingya refugees involved in various inter and
intra-group conflicts. In addition, there remains a strong probability
of growing ARSA activities inside Bangladesh. Many young Rohingyas are still
traumatized by last year’s violence inflicted by the Burmese military. With
such high levels of distress so present in the minds of so many, the camps are
a fertile ground for recruitment. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2018/03/04/personal-conflicts-cause-unrest-rohingya-camps
Women and Child trafficking
Thousands of women and girls have survived rape and
slaughter by the Burmese military in Rakhine State, but in Bangladesh they face
a different threat. At the end of last year, nearly 40
people were identified as trafficking women and children inside the
refugee camps. These people were identified as trying to traffic Rohingya women
and children from Cox’s Bazar to as far away as the Middle East and Malaysia. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/12/27/human-traffickers-lurk-rohingya-camps/
Forced prostitution is
sadly becoming a norm in the camps. Women and girls are being bought, sold,
exported and often lured to brothels under the pretext of marriage or with the
promise of employment. There exists in South Asia a huge trafficking network of
women and girls and a risk of the camps on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border
becoming permanent will be that traffickers could systematically begin
targeting Rohingya refugees, using the camps as potential hubs for trafficking.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41928555
Environmental degradation
For decades environmental degradation has been one of the
most serious problems that Bangladesh has faced, a problem which has
undoubtedly been intensified by the settlement of camps following last year’s
violence. Hill-cuttings, deforestation, a decline of soil-fertility, and the
damage of agricultural lands are major environmental
problems exacerbated over the last year. A recent
study confirmed that a total of 4,300 acres of hills and forests were
cut down to make way for temporary shelters. Around 198 acres out of a total of
375 acres of natural forest land has been encroached and around 3,000 to 4,000
acres of hilly land has been cleared of vegetation, and nearly 6,800 tons of
fuel wood are being collected each month from the remaining forest and jungles
in Ukhia and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar. Cultivable lands are therefore being
reduced, as well as fishing water bodies being occupied. The space for poultry
& live-stock rearing are also diminishing. https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/politics-climate-change/note-the-environmental-aspects-rohingya-camps-1610368
Local Population
With the presence of one of the largest refugee camps in
world on their doorstep, and the ensuing pressures therefore exerted on the
local population, managing local sentiments towards the camps is vitally
important. The creation of security posts in Ukhia and Taknaf areas designed to
monitor the Rohingya who move out of the camps however has meant that local
residents now have to carry their photo-identity and regularly need to produce
it for security personnel. The local population I have spoken to consider this
process humiliating. And this isn’t even mentioning the rise in the price of
daily essentials, due to the increase of foreign aid personal in the area.
When the Rohingya people first fled the violence of the
Burmese military to Bangladesh, sympathy for them from the local population was
extremely strong. However this support is at risk of drastically transforming
over the coming year. While tensions between the local population and those in
the camps are not yet hostile, there remains a significant risk of social
unrest. As the international community continues to put pressure on the Myanmar
military and government to improve conditions in Rakhine, allowing the safe and
voluntary repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar, Bengali citizens in Cox’s
Bazar are unlikely to support the presence of a permanent refugee camp,
especially not in its current state.
