In August 2017, a wave of violence in Rakhine State forced more than 700,000 Rohingya people to seek refuge in Bangladesh. Homes and villages were destroyed, with thousands of families separated or killed. A strain of human rights violations has led many activist organizations and U.N. leaders to suspect genocidal intent. With the crisis entering its sixth year, humanitarian assistance remains vital for displaced Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi hosts. Fortunately, the international community is responding to the Rohingya refugee crisis with growing urgency.
Improving Basic Services and Infrastructure in Host Communities
The mass displacement has forced many Rohingya refugees to settle in overcrowded shelters. According to the World Bank, close to a million Rohingya people have taken refuge in Southeast Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district — a region that already has poor access to basic services and infrastructure. Furthermore, the region is highly vulnerable to floods and cyclones. The displacement has posed great risk to both refugees and hosts, straining the already limited resources of the region’s host communities.
Accordingly, the World Bank approved the Emergency Multi-Sector Rohingya Crisis Response Project (EMCRP) in March 2019 to support Bangladesh. Working in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh, the project has provided several hundred million dollars in funding to help host communities improve their basic services and infrastructure. Additionally, the project has emphasized strategies for building “disaster and social resilience” in Cox’s Bazar district. To date, the EMCRP has impacted hundreds of thousands of lives. For instance, it has improved 17km of roads, afforded 216,300 refugees access to better public infrastructure and water sources and improved sanitation services for 53,790 refugees.
Despite the added challenges that COVID-19 posed, the EMCRP and the Government of Bangladesh have remained committed to achieving long-lasting solutions to the Rohingya refugee crisis. Through its ongoing efforts, the EMCRP is expected to provide better public infrastructure for a total of 780,800 people, ensure 81,000 people “access to climate-resilient multi-purpose disaster shelters” and ensure 365,000 people access to safe water sources.
International Support
In September 2022, the United States announced that it would contribute an additional $170 million in aid for the Rohingya refugee crisis, raising the U.S.’s total contributions to the response efforts to about $1.9 billion. Close to $138 million of the additional aid was allocated for programs in Bangladesh that would provide “life-sustaining support to the over 940,000 Rohingya refugees” in the country and their 540,000 hosts.
In December 2022, the United Kingdom announced that it, too, would ramp up its support. An additional £4.5 million in aid raised the U.K.’s total assistance to nearly £350 million since the crisis began in 2017. The funding helped provide water, food, sanitation and child protection services for thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, including food assistance for 219,000 people. “The U.K. remains committed to supporting Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh,” said Robert Chatterson Dickson, British High Commissioner. By March 2023, the U.K.’s support had risen to £15 million for 2022-2023.
The 2023 Rohingya Joint Response Plan
In March 2023, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners appealed to the international community to increase financial support for Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi hosts. The call was part of the UNHCR’s 2023 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, which seeks to raise $876 million to aid some 1.5 million refugees and hosts who remain in need. The U.S. pledged an additional $97.8 million in response to the call, making it the largest donor, followed by Japan, which pledged $17.8 million, and the U.K., which pledged $6.4 million.
Formulated in collaboration with the Bangladeshi authorities, the Joint Response Plan unites 116 partners, almost half of which are Bangladeshi organizations. The plan aims to provide vital food, water, health care, shelter and protection services for about 978,000 refugees living in Cox’s Bazar and on the Bhasan Char Island and about 495,000 Bangladeshis living in neighboring communities. Additionally, it aims to strengthen social and economic resilience and improve livelihoods by providing education and skills-based training. The plan especially targets the most vulnerable, such as the disabled, victims of violence and trauma and women and children, who account for more than 75% of the refugees that it aims to help.
The Future
With almost one million having fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, the Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi hosts increasingly rely on humanitarian aid for hope and survival. Alarmingly, over half the refugees displaced in camps are under the age of 18. Therefore, continued humanitarian assistance and international collaboration are critical for ensuring these children a fair future.
However, the global economic recession sparked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict has resulted in reduced humanitarian support for the Rohingya refugee crisis. For example, the World Food Programme noted that recent cuts in food assistance have put thousands of Rohingya people at risk of malnutrition. Fortunately, the UNHCR, its partners and the Government of Bangladesh remain committed to helping the many in need. Their ongoing efforts to improve sanitation and infrastructure in host communities, accommodate the needs of refugees and provide safe spaces for victims of gender-based violence are having a positive impact and helping Rohingya refugees and their hosts build resilience.
– Grace Clay
Photo: Flickr