The Rohingya in Cox's Bazar: When the Stateless Seek Refuge.
Abhishek Bhatiaa, Ayesha S. Mahmudb, Arlan Fullerc, Rebecca Shind, Azad Rahmane, Tanvir Shatilf, Mahmuda Sultanag, K.A.M Morshedh, Jennifer Leaningi j, Satchit Balsarik
- aVisiting scholar and researcher at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- bRockefeller Foundation Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamis, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- cExecutive director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- dProgram coordinator of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- eProgram head of the Advocacy for Social Change program at BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- fResearcher in the Research and Evaluation Division at BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- gPolicy analyst in the Advocacy for Social Change program at BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- hDirector of the Advocacy for Social Change, Technology, and Partnership Strengthening Unit at BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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Abstract
The Rohingya people of Myanmar have been subject to human rights violations through government-sponsored discrimination and violence. Since August 2017, an intensified assault by Myanmar authorities has resulted in a rapid increase of Rohingya pouring into Bangladesh, and the expansion of refugee settlements in the district of Cox's Bazar has strained humanitarian and government relief efforts. Assessing Rohingya and host community needs is critical for prioritizing resource allocations and for documenting the rights violations suffered by Rohingya refugees. From March 15 to 18, 2018, we conducted a rapid needs assessment of recently arrived Rohingya and host community households. We collected data on demographics, mortality, education, livelihoods, access to food and water, vaccination, and health care. Among other things, our survey found high levels of mortality among young Rohingya men, alarmingly low levels of vaccination among children, poor literacy, and rising poverty. Denied formal refugee status, the Rohingya cannot access due protections and find themselves in a state of insecurity in which they are unsure of their future and unable to formally seek work or send their children to school. While the government of Bangladesh explores the options of repatriation, relocation, and third-country resettlement for these refugees, it is important to ensure that they are not denied a life of dignity.