Rohingya still live under threat of another tragedy

Rohingya still live under threat of another tragedy

A year into a crisis that has sent over 700,000 Rohingya fleeing into Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar, living conditions in the teeming refugee camps of Cox's Bazar have undoubtedly improved, but ongoing funding shortages mean that "the world's most persecuted people" still live under the shadow of another potential tragedy.

Standing in the heart of the world's biggest refugee settlement, it is hard to believe that just one year ago this sprawling makeshift city, where almost one million people now live in plastic and bamboo shelters, crammed together across hillsides as far as the eye can see, simply did not exist. Much has changed from the early days when tens of thousands of desperate, women, children and men -- many injured and close to starvation -- were sleeping under open skies. All the refugees now have access to basic shelter, food and healthcare.

Since February, the UN Migration Agency (IOM) and its partners have provided tens of thousands of families with shelter upgrade kits. The refugees are taught how to make their homes more secure against the powerful wind and rains brought by the monsoon. Over 24,000 people living on the most unstable, muddy slopes at risk from landslides have been moved to safer ground. Most have gone to land prepared by the Site Maintenance Engineering Project (SMEP) -- a joint IOM, WFP and UNHCR scheme to secure and flatten dangerous terrain.

Hundreds of metres of drains, roads, bridges and stairways have been constructed across the camps, while work continues to stabilise land and prevent soil erosion. Most of this vast effort to create an infrastructure where none existed has involved tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees and members of the local community employed under cash for work schemes that provide important livelihood opportunities for families.

The huge amount of work done by the humanitarian agencies, the Bangladeshi authorities, and the refugees themselves have helped avert major disasters in the camps so far -- despite the perilous nature of the topography and the extreme weather conditions over the past several months.

But this does not mean that the danger has gone. There are still almost one million refugees living in basic shelters in an area that suffers some of the worst monsoon conditions in the world, with another season approaching. Local villagers who welcomed the refugees also need help dealing with the influx of people.

Earlier this month IOM, one of the biggest medical providers in Cox's Bazar, marked half a million medical consultations since the crisis began -- an indication of the vast and continuing needs. But with less than a third of the total funding needed for the overall Rohingya response plan for this year secured, even the provision of these lifesaving services is now in question.

Funding is needed not only to continue to provide basic medical services but also to prevent the spread of disease through vaccination and other health outreach programmes. Providing clean water and installing more deep tube wells will also be critical to protecting the health of both the refugees and host communities.

The cost of maintaining existing infrastructure such as roads, drainage, and latrines, which need to be regularly emptied to avoid water contamination, is also a major challenge.

While refugees leaders, the government of Bangladesh, and the UN all insist that the Rohingya people must be able to return to their homeland, any return must be voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable. Conditions in Myanmar are not yet conducive to allow the refugees to return and consequently we cannot lose sight of the ongoing daily survival needs of this desperately vulnerable population.

The suffering that has been inflicted on the Rohingya people over decades did not end when they arrived in Bangladesh. Here, they may be safe from the violence that drove them from their homeland, and so far we have been able to support the government of Bangladesh in meeting their most basic needs. But no-one should be under any doubt that life in the camps continues to inflict misery and despair, despite the impressive resilience of people who have been through so much.

While much of the solution to their ongoing suffering unquestionably lies with the Myanmar authorities, the international community has the power to improve living conditions in Bangladesh for all those affected by the Rohingya crisis.

The world must not stand by and allow a lack of funding to drive the Rohingya once more into an abyss of tragedy and loss. Despite the terrible events they have endured and their dire living conditions, the refugees in Bangladesh are, despite everything, in some ways the fortunate ones. They are the ones who survived and must not now be forgotten. We are all responsible for ensuring that they are never again denied the right to live in safety and dignity.


Giorgi Gigauri is Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration, Bangladesh.

Giorgi Gigauri

Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration, Bangladesh

Giorgi Gigauri is Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration, Bangladesh.

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