With a full-blown civil war going on in neighbouring Myanmar, the Rohingya refugee repatriation issue is now uncertain. The humanitarian disaster involving nearly a million refugees uprooted from that country and forced to flee to Bangladesh had grabbed international headlines a few years ago. Today, the Rohingya issue has been eclipsed by newer conflicts like the one happening in Europe (Russo-Ukrainian war) and the disaster in the Gaza strip. International opinion and attention have moved on, as has the humanitarian aid. This issue has resurfaced because Bangladesh, once again, has been left to pick up the pieces of housing and feeding this very large displaced population mostly on its own.
According to the UNICEF Bangladesh Humanitarian Situation Report No. 67 (January 1 to March 31, 2024), things are not so good. As high as 978,000 Rohingya continue to live in 33 camps in Cox's Bazar District and Bhasan Char in Noakhali district. Over half of them (52 per cent) are children. Some 5,000 Rohingya (3,500 children) were displaced in a fire in one of the camps. While this UN body provides a number of shelters and education services, the funding remains poor. This is reflected in the report, which states: "Supplies valued at $1.26m and funds $72.4m (48 per cent of 2024 HAC requirements) are available for emergency response, leaving a gap of $77.9m to respond to life-saving emergency needs of girls, boys, and women in Bangladesh.
Recent media reports state that some 30,000 babies are born in the Rohingya camps every year, which poses new challenges both for the government and the paltry aid / financial commitments trickling down from donors / development partners as the demography of the forcibly removed population continues to rise and more services are needed to cater to needs in areas of maternal health and needs of newborns. Indeed, it is estimated that "nearly 200,000 children have joined the Rohingya camps within the last six years."
The financial situation was bad last year when aid agencies were forced to cut back on monthly rations for refugees from US$12 to $8.0 per person. This year too, the United Nations (UN) launched a Joint Response Plan (JRP) on March 13, 2024 where ironically, the government turned out to be the largest donor. This follows a pattern set over the years. Back in 2022, Bangladesh spent nearly $2.0 billion on the Rohingya refugees from its own funds. The money needed each year goes not only to sustain them but also the host communities. Bangladesh took a lot of political flak internationally when it built up the Bhasan Char Island facility, but that same international community remains big on talk but small on financial commitment. Left to its own devices, Bangladesh is being forced to take "unpopular" decisions internationally, but which make sense to it domestically.
Let's look at some facts on the ground. According to media reports, some "117 distinct partners-ten UN agencies, fifty-eight Bangladeshi NGOs, thirty-five international NGOs, and fourteen other national and international organisations-are running 195 projects. Yet, according to the UNICEF appeal (March, 2024), the funding gap stands at $77.9 million out of a total ask of $150.3 million! This persistent funding gap has forced the government to seek a billion-dollar package from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank. Some confusion had arisen when initial reports appeared in media that the WB was giving it as a loan, but the bank clarified its position later (54.5 per cent loan and the rest grant). The fact of the matter remains that the traditional donor agencies that have till now supported the refugee population stranded on Bangladesh territory are not really interested in continued support.
This is reflected in the recent joint statement issued by Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the US on May 14, 2024. These governments agreed that 2023 was a bad year for the Rohingya when the financial gap was $301 million which resulted in all sorts of curtailment in food rations leading to food insecurity "and increasing vulnerability to exploitation". The present state of insufficient funding will mean that "over 150,000 won't be able to access essential services, including food, safe drinking water, shelter, protection, and healthcare. In addition, in lieu of Liquid Petroleum Gas, nearly 100,000 households will likely resort to collecting firewood, leading to potentially 14,000 tons of firewood being extracted monthly in the region, leading to deforestation and negative environmental impacts." After the visit to the Rohingya camps the representatives of governments of following nations have announced their contributions to IOM's Appeal under the 2024 Join Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, which include, US - $7.6 million; Norway - NOK6.5 million; Japan already committed $2.6 million. Sweden and Switzerland have expressed "political support" which is nice, but financial support would have been better.
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