Maat Sheds Light on the Situation of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Okeil: Rohingya refugees are suffering from catastrophic living conditions in camps in Bangladesh
Issa: 86 percent of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are severely affected by poverty and hunger
Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights issued a new report entitled "From Violence and Persecution to Marginalization and Displacement: The Tragedy of Rohingya Refugees Fleeing to Bangladesh", which sheds light on the tragic conditions of Rohingya refugees fleeing to Bangladesh as a result of the violations committed by the Myanmar authorities against them.
The report revealed that as the Myanmar military and security forces continued to commit systematic violence and ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya minority over the past five years, the Rohingya minority continued to flow over the past years to the neighboring country of Bangladesh, and their numbers continued to rise steadily until their number reached over one million refugees, more than 60 percent of them are children. Rohingya refugees are living in Cox's Bazar and Bangladesh's Bhasan Char island are living in extremely tragic and difficult conditions, as they suffer from severe overcrowding in the camps, the lack of food supplies, clean drinking water, exposure to the dangers of floods, landslides, hurricanes and deadly fires, and denial of access to adequate health and medical services and education, in addition to facing security and protection risks, especially with regard to cross-border attacks.
In this context, Ayman Okeil, an international human rights expert and president of Maat, said that the Rohingya refugees are living in catastrophic living conditions inside the camps in Bangladesh, as they suffer greatly from severe overcrowding inside the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar region, Kutupalong refugee camp, the world's largest refugee camp, which houses more than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, an average of only 10.7 square meters per person. Okeil added that overcrowding inside these camps has serious consequences for the living conditions of the refugees, as the severe overcrowding inside these camps has affected the availability of clean water, latrines and sanitation services, and the spread of stagnant water pools that attract mosquitoes, which has led to the spread of infectious and deadly diseases and epidemics, including cholera, hepatitis, scabies, malaria, diphtheria, and COVID-19. Okeil called on the international community, especially the United Nations, to urgently take action to pressure the Myanmar government to stop violence against the Rohingya minority, investigate the violations committed and quickly bring the perpetrators to justice.
For his part, Ahmed Issa, a researcher at Maat, said that the Rohingya refugees fleeing the violence in Myanmar to the camps in Bangladesh face many challenges such as obtaining clean drinking water and adequate food, as the large numbers of Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh, which exceed one million people, imposed great pressure on the availability of resources and the quantities of water and food available in the camps, and at the same time led to exacerbating levels of food insecurity, hunger, poverty, malnutrition, and lack of water supply. Issa added that according to the World Food Program, over 86 percent of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is suffering severely from exacerbating poverty and hunger since the end of 2020.
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