UNHCR has chosen as this year’s theme “hope still far from home”, but most refugees are worried about the future of their children. In Bangladesh they only receive primary education, have no chance to work and are treated as a burden In recent months, food rations have been reduced, dengue fever has spread and crime has increased.
Dhaka () – For years they have been away from home, unable to work, dependent on foreign aid and unloved by their host country. This is the situation of Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh, home to at least 1.2 million people who fled the Burmese Rakhine state due to persecution by the army since 2017. Following the military coup on February 1, 2021, the country plunged into civil war and any chance of return vanished. An ethnic minority of Muslim confession, the Rohingya were effectively rendered stateless by the military and previous Burmese governments. However, the Bangladeshi government pressures them to leave.
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, which is celebrated today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has chosen the motto “hope still far from home”.
But in the Cox’s Bazar camp, many are worried about the future of their children: the youngest receive education in Burmese in kindergartens run by non-governmental organizations, but it is only primary education. Those who arrived as teenagers could now go to university. “We live like pets. We depend on the mercy of others. We can’t get out of the camp. It’s like a prison. If I were in Myanmar, I would start working in a company or doing business. I could use my talents to make a career.” declared to Abu Bakkar, a 22-year-old who lives in Ukhila Camp 13. His father, Dil Mohammed, used to be a teacher in Myanmar, but is now unemployed. Both depend on the help of UNHCR, the Bangladeshi government and some NGOs to live.
Recently, the UN was forced to further reduce food rations due to lack of funds, first from $12 to $10 a month and later from $10 to $8. Due to the precarious conditions, some Rohingya become involved in criminal networks. Refugee Aid and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman told the media that aid from donors is steadily declining. Never before has so little money been allocated in the space of six months. “The nutritional problems of women and children are increasing. The Rohingya are leaving the countryside in search of food. With the decrease in aid, crimes such as smuggling and human trafficking are increasing, so there are many incidents that They threaten our security.”
The sanitary conditions in the camps are also disastrous: a dengue epidemic broke out last year, but no figures are known about the victims. An estimated 1,000 Rohingya have contracted the disease this year.
Imtiaz Ahmed, a former professor at the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, commented on the lack of aid to the Rohingya compared to other needs of the international community: “We talked about the economic crisis due to the war between Ukraine and Russia, but the The supply of weapons for war is not diminishing, while there is a reluctance to allocate funds for these afflicted people. It is unfair.”
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on the international community to help the refugees return to Myanmar, because overpopulation is already a serious problem for this South Asian nation of 165 million people.
A Catholic NGO worker explained that Bangladesh initially hosted the Rohingya for humanitarian reasons, but now the government wants them to leave as soon as possible: “Bangladesh is dealing with various problems and feels that it is impossible to find a solution for the refugees, that only can be repatriated with the help of the Myanmar government.”
According to a labor population survey released in March by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate is 3.6%, or 2.63 million people, while the total labor force is over 73.40 millions.
The Rohingya are under great pressure, while the economy has slowed. Many garment factories, the country’s main industry, have received fewer orders from Western countries in recent months.
