Visual Mission: Burmese Rohingya Refugees in Makeshift Camp in Bangladesh

In southern Bangladesh’s Cox Bazaar district, 10,000-14,000 Rohingya refugees from Burma are living in a makeshift camp with very poor humanitarian conditions and are receiving barely any assistance from the international community. Many of these refugees have had difficulty integrating into the Bangladeshi society and face discrimination from the local community and some government officials. While one-third of the residents of the camp are newer arrivals from Burma or individuals who were repatriated to Burma and then returned, two-thirds of the people had been living in Bangladesh for years and many of them were forced to move here after being evicted from their homes. Not far from the makeshift camp, two official camps house approximately 20,000 refugees who came to Bangladesh in the early 1990s in search of asylum from persecution in Burma. The official camps are managed by the Government of Bangladesh and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The informal camp residents need immediate humanitarian assistance and in recent weeks, Médecins Sans Frontières-Holland has received permission from the Government of Bangladesh to provide relief to this population. The government is urged to allow other international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies to assist the makeshift camp population.

Bangladesh 2006: Environment barely fit for survival Photo Credit: Refugees International 04/20/2006 The residents of these dilapidated shelters only have deteriorating plastic sheeting to cover their roofs. This makes the shelters unbearably hot during the daytime. The informal camp is located between the Naf River and a highway. The river is expected to flood during the rainy season and could wash away homes and people’s belongings. The highway on the other side has cost some children their lives -- while trying to cross it to play or collect water they have been run over by vehicles. The UN Country Team has declared this site a “humanitarian emergency” because of the poor shelters, quality and access of water, inadequate healthcare, and scarcity of food.

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