Camp Conditions Between 240,000 and 300,000 Biharis currently live in some 66 camps in Dhaka and throughout 13 other regions across the country. All camps have one thing in common—they are severely overcrowded. In Rangpur, there are several instances in which 12 or more family members sleep huddled together in a single room no larger than eight by ten feet. As families grow without having access to more land, they are forced to live in increasingly small quarters. In some camps, dirt floors become deep mud in the monsoon season. A widow and mother of four told Refugees International, “We cannot stay here when it rains. We have to live in the railway station.” In September, a tornado ripped through one camp. On December 4, 2004 fire ripped though another, leaving two hundred people homeless. Over the years, numerous families have been threatened with and reportedly suffered forced evictions. Lack of clean water, co-habitation with animals, and poor drainage and sanitation systems, contribute to a variety of medical problems including skin disease, water-borne illness, upper respiratory infections and gastro-intestinal disorders. In one camp, only two working wells supplied water to 650 families. In Mirpur’s Millat Camp, there was only one latrine for 6,000 people. Few medical clinics exist, and several camps have no healthcare at all. The right to a basic education has become a luxury for Bihari children. The school in Saardar Bahardur Camp closed last year due to lack of funding. In Adamgee Camp, only six boys from an entire camp progressed to secondary school. Teachers go unpaid, students study in shifts, and requests to the Minister of Education for new books have been turned down. This lack of education, combined with an already impoverished economy, provides little opportunity for employment either inside or outside the camps. Those able to find employment often face discrimination and harassment. Poverty is widespread in Bangladesh, and the basic situation for the Biharis resembles that of the poorest citizens of the country. Denial of citizenship, however, creates additional disadvantages for the Bihari. Having no official government recognition and identification papers, prohibits a person from holding a government job and other professions which require higher education. Lack of status also restricts the Biharis’ chances to develop their own economic opportunities and prohibits access to processes that would enable them to safeguard their rights. |
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Citizens of Nowhere: Camp Conditions
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