* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The international community must now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Bangladesh
One year ago, Myanmar's military launched a brutal scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya Muslims in the country's impoverished Rakhine state. The world watched with horror as the brutality of these military operations catalyzed the fastest mass refugee exodus since the Rwandan genocide, with nearly 725,000 arriving in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar since August of last year.
Fast forward one year, and Bangladesh is now home to the world’s largest refugee camp; international agencies have deemed that conditions do not exist in Myanmar for the safe, dignified and sustainable voluntary return of Rohingya to Rakhine; and the harrowing events of last year have been condemned as “undoubtedly amount[ing] to the gravest crimes under international law” in a damning report by the UN International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The clarion call for decisive action that addresses immediate concerns and the root causes of the Rohingya’s flight to safety has never been louder.
Without question, Bangladesh, a country facing its own development challenges, deserves tremendous credit for keeping its borders open and providing safety to the Rohingya at a time when other, often wealthier, nations are retreating from their protection obligations toward refugees. While the lack of decisive actions taken to address systemic discrimination and marginalization of the Rohingya population in Rakhine continues to preclude return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, their fate cannot be Bangladesh’s responsibility alone. The international community has an indispensable role to play in guaranteeing the safety and wellbeing of the Rohingya in both the immediate and long-term, and in both Bangladesh and Myanmar, in three key ways.
First, an improvement of the current conditions of Cox’s Bazar’s camps is imperative. While the swift arrival of refugees has demanded an equally swift response, speed has been the enemy of quality. Camps are dangerously overcrowded and shelters fall far below international standards – spared by a mercifully mild monsoon season but threatened by forthcoming cyclones. Durable construction and sustainable decongestion of camps – in consultation with Rohingya refugees themselves and with their consent to move – are both sorely needed, criteria not met by proposals to move thousands of Rohingya to the uninhabited and flood-prone island of Bhasan Char in coming weeks. Equally, the availability and quality of protection services must be urgently increased to address the enormous levels of trauma – some of the worst the IRC has ever seen – especially among women and girls. Improving the protection response means expanding capacity on the ground of both international and local partners, including specialized gender-based violence (GBV) case management services, and ensuring the specific needs of women, men, boys and girls are integrated into health, education and livelihoods assistance.
Second, a year into their displacement, the Rohingya remain reliant on humanitarian assistance to survive. The lack of any livelihoods and education opportunities has only exacerbated the social and economic strain of the crisis both on the Rohingya and local Bangladeshi communities – and the IRC’s decades-long experience with Burmese refugees in Thailand highlights the necessity of respecting and promoting refugees’ rights to access schools, healthcare, legal assistance and decent work. Supporting refugees and host populations with improved livelihoods opportunities – including high-quality education for Rohingya children - should be a priority for international and regional organizations and donors. When accompanied by national policy reform that enhances refugee protection and ensures that such assistance reaches those most in need, multi-year financial assistance packages or compact agreements which explore “beyond aid” solutions can ease immediate pressures related to the crisis and accelerate longer-term national growth. The international community should think about how trade concessions, labor mobility opportunities and private sector investment can complement and facilitate protection objectives.
However, and most importantly, the steps outlined above will be inadequate unless paralleled by comprehensive measures that address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine State, as detailed most clearly in the recommendations of the Commission led by the late Kofi Annan. These include meaningful steps to protect basic rights of the Rohingya and afford them a pathway to citizenship, as well as ensuring genuine accountability for perpetrators of serious human rights violations. Until these recommendations are implemented, the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees will not be possible. The UN Security Council must not shy away from sending a strong message to end impunity and prevent future violations, in Myanmar and abroad.
The past year has been long and hard – both for the Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi hosts. The road ahead will be longer but it need not be harder. The international community must now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Bangladesh to develop a response to this global crisis that honors both the immediate and long-term needs of Rohingya – and helps drive the accountable, inclusive peace that has eluded Myanmar for decades.
Manish Agrawal is International Rescue Committee’s Bangladesh Country Director.
