Welfare of the locals, security of the refugees
Driven by inhuman brutality in Myanmar, around 655 thousand Rohingyas have fled for their lives to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017. Adding to that are the refugees who have stayed back since 1992 and others who crossed the border intermittently since then, totalling around one million in all. Most of the refugees are living in Ukhia and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh. Around 800 thousand of them are housed in various camps. The rest are scattered.
Under the management of Bangladesh government, all sorts of relief are being provided to the Rohingyas sheltered here. They have a place to stay, water to drink and facilities for medical treatment. Even sanitation is being arranged, albeit still not quite adequate at the moment. International organisations such as the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO), have come forward with assistance. BRAC as well as other local and international NGOs are also working in the area. The sudden influx of refugees had a strong impact, but they are being cared for. The aid and assistance programmes have helped them survive and live once again.
The Bangladesh government provided them with temporary shelter out of humanitarian considerations. They were praised at home and abroad for this timely and justified action. Various measures are being taken to repatriate the Rohingyas too. However, Myanmar’s conservative stance in this regard is likely to throw a spanner into the works.
The 160 million people of Bangladesh have to bear the burden of the Rohingyas sheltered in the country. A portion of the taxpayers’ money is spent on these refugees. But it is the people of Ukhia and Teknaf who directly bear the brunt. According to the 2011 population census, there were less than 500 thousand people in that area. A census now would perhaps show 600 thousand. But these 600 thousand people are having to bear the additional pressure of one million refugees. The pressures have short, mid and long term impact. The people of the area share their food with the weary, ailing, hungry and thirsty Rohingyas. They give them temporary shelter. The Rohingyas are relieved to an extent and their facilities are increasing by the day. Even the local people want to see them living lives like any other.
At the same time, they also want to be relieved of this burden as soon as possible. The local people do not believe that the Myanmar authorities will take the Rohingyas back any time soon. And the Rohingyas themselves will not want to return unless there is assurance of minimum security and dignity. However, we can only hope that the repatriation process goes through, though it is obvious that this will not be very soon. The pressure will remain on Ukhia and Teknaf. There is, therefore, need for urgent initiative to handle the situation.
As a member of a consultant organisation, I have spoken to concerned officials in Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar to ascertain the problems faced by the people of these two upazilas. I spoke to people’s representatives of Cox’s Bazar, Ukhia and Teknaf, government officials, members of the civil society as well as local representatives of international agencies and of BRAC in Cox’s Bazar.
The border-lying land had been lush with crops when the Rohingyas began to arrive last year. Little canals had been used for irrigation. Now all that has disappeared, to give room to the Rohingyas.
The Rohingyas had initially been given refuge in various schools and colleges. Much of the furniture in these institutions have been damaged or lost. Even now, 12 educational institutions including Ukhia Degree College are being used for Rohingya management purposes. Studies are on hold. The local school children are uneasy to attend school in the presence of swarming crowds of strangers. School attendance has fallen by more than half. School grounds are being used for relief distribution. The incessant coming and going of local and foreign persons and heavy vehicles carrying relief materials have damaged the roads. Traffic jams hamper commute and most of the village roads are in a poor condition. Even the 13 km embankment of Palangkhali union in Ukhia has been damaged extensively by Rohingyas crossing the river Naf to enter Bangladesh.
A few thousand deep tube-wells have been set up for this large number of persons, resulting in a drastic fall in the groundwater level. The shallow tube-wells do not work and the deep tube-wells have to reach far down.
Burgeoning demand has pushed the prices of vegetables, fish, meat and essentials up. And local traders are at a loss with surplus rations being sold cheap in the black market. Firewood is still being used as fuel, clearing expanses of forest land. Elephants and other animals are endangered. Reserved forests and social forestry have been damaged, with no compensation offered to the local populace.
One of the biggest areas of damage for the local people is the entrance of Rohingyas in the local labour market. They are selling their labour for low wages. A worker would receive Tk 500 as daily wage, but this has fallen to as low as Tk 200 to 300. There are allegations that the donor agencies and NGOs do not hire local people for their work in the Rohingya camps, though the agencies do not admit this.
The people’s representatives also say that certain quarters are taking advantage of the situation to radicalise Rohingyas. They said they were also involved in the drug trade. The local representatives of the people became emotional when describing their troubles, feeling they were being alienated in their own homeland. They felt all assistance was being directed to the Rohingyas while the local people were being neglected. This is having a deep impact on the local psyche. It is the responsibility of the government and those involved in the relief work to address this situation.
It is not too difficult or expensive to alleviate these problems. It may have been necessary to use educational institutions for the Rohingyas initially, but by now alternative arrangements should have been made. Providing meals for school children would bring them rapidly back to the classrooms. IOM is reportedly to provide gas cylinders to 200 thousand families, both Rohingyas and local, for cooking purposes. This will help in protecting the environment. Those who have lost their crops and forest land must be duly compensated. Roads need repair and maintenance. If expansion work is speeded up on the main road, making it a four-lane one, the people will be benefitted. The embankment must be repaired. Extensive forestation must be carried out.
It is also only justified that the health facilities offered to the Rohingyas is extended to the local population too. It is essential to enforce the prohibition on Rohingyas entering the local labour market. The local people, both the poor and middle class, should be provided special allowances for a specified span of time. And all crimes should be dealt with equally by the law. If the local people who have so willingly extended shelter and support to the Rohingyas are taken care of, only then will the sheltered people remain safe and secure.
* Ali Imam Majumder is former cabinet secretary and can be reached at [email protected] This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla print edition, has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir.