Life style

With over 688,000 refugees now living in the makeshift camps

and host villages along the Myanmar border in the Cox’s Bazar
region of Bangladesh, societies and communities are adapting as
inhabitants begin to build themselves a new life. Although safe
from the violence and persecution they have escaped in
Myanmar, the refugees’ lives in Bangladesh are far from easy.
With limited and interrupted access to basic services, little or no
family support and the difficult process of recovering from the
psychological and physical aftershocks of trauma, it is with
resilience and spirit that these new communities forge
connections and social structures. Meanwhile, international and
local agencies struggle to build up the infrastructure needed and
ensure that basic needs are met.

The shelters in the residential areas are small and often comprise
of one room in a low bamboo structure encased in tarpaulin and
weighed down by palm leaves and bricks on the roof. The
encroaching bad weather means that the camps are prone to
waterlogging and damp, meaning that firewood storage and
cooking needs to be done inside the house, along with the
general living. Groups of families often choose to live
communally, allocating separate residences and representatives
for duties such as cooking, childcare, sleeping and so on. This
division of labor allows more to be made of the limited space and
resources available.

To encourage sanitation and hygiene in the close-knit

settlements, latrines are set slightly apart from residences with
self-contained cesspits, while clothes washing and bathing areas
are along areas of running water wherever possible. The risk of
communicable and water borne disease are high and the inter-
sector coordination group (ISCG) does its best to set up camps
with sanitation, health and water access in mind. It does mean,
however, that long distances often need to be travelled between
water collection points, latrines, and washing areas.

The business of basic errands can take up much of the day and
so the settlements are active also at night. Solar torches and
lamps have been distributed through some of the communities to
make movement at night less dangerous, as narrow paths
through tents are often built alongside rivers and steep slopes.
Evening activities can include physical tasks – such as water
fetching – which are not done during the day due to the heat and
the crowds at the distribution stations. In addition to errands, the
evening also gives opportunity to families not living near one
another to visit and spend social time together.

Criminal Activities & Reason

The lack of security and extent of violence inside the camps as evident
from an investigative report in the latest issue of Star Weekend should
be a major concern for the government and international community. It
goes to show how precarious the situation is.

Thousands of men, especially the young men are in these camps. They
are unemployed, hungry, in need of cash and most of all, frustrated
about their uncertain future. Some of them are getting involved in crime
—drug and human trafficking, hijacking, gang robbery, rape and
murder. This means that the after all the trauma they have suffered in
their home country, are now again under threat of violence in the only
place they thought they were safe.
 Police killed seven members of a suspected robber gang during a
raid, triggering fresh concerns over the increasing vulnerability of
refugees to crimes in Bangladeshi camps.
The shootout and deaths occurred in hilly areas in Cox’s Bazar
district in the early hours of March 2, confirmed Lt. in charge of
camp for the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite police unit.
“We came to know that notorious robber was hiding in hills with
his gang. As an operation team of RAB raided the area, the
robbers fired at us and we fired in self-defense. Seven members
of the robber gang were killed and we seized five guns and a
large cache of ammunition from the hideout,
Another suspected member was killed in a gunfight with
Bangladesh Border Guards the same day, local media reported.

This paper – based on qualitative and quantitative research with

refugees in Bangladesh – provides insight into the current political
and policy context, refugees’ challenges and aspirations,
community engagement and what could improve refugees’ lives in
the medium to long term.
It makes seven key recommendations:
1. Continue to press for adequate levels of funding to improve
living conditions in camps for refugees.
2. Effective communication and engagement of refugees.
3. Continue with surveys on medium-term aspirations and
support.
4. Improve community engagement, community relationships
and camp governance.
5. Adopt strategies to contribute to the self-reliance of
refugees.
6. Focus international dialogue on the priorities articulated by
refugees.
7. Develop, fund and deliver a medium-term development plan
for Cox’s Bazar that addresses priority needs as articulated by
refugee and host populations.

Refugees crises discuss with worldwide 0ther

countries

Syria
The Syria crisis has accelerated more dramatically than any crisis
on earth, and Syrians continue to be the largest forcibly displaced
population in the world. After war erupted in March 2011, it took
two years for 1 million people to be displaced. Another million
were displaced within six months. Now nine years on, more than
half of the pre-war population has been internally displaced or
forced to seek safety in neighboring countries. That’s more than
13.2 million people on the run, including more than 6.6 million
people who have escaped across the borders.

Afghanistan
Years of unemployment, insecurity and political instability have led to a
massive migration from Afghanistan. More than 2.5 million people are
estimated to be living in new and prolonged displacement, while more
than 2.7 million people have been forced to leave the country to Iran,
Pakistan or Europe.
South Sudan
The situation in South Sudan is dire, and the largest refugee crisis in
Africa. More than 4 million people have been uprooted from their homes
since the start of a brutal civil war in 2013, including about 2.2 million
people who have been forced to cross into neighboring countries, the
majority of them women and children.

Myanmar
Since violence broke out in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State in
August 2017, more than 742,000 Rohingya have fled to Cox’s Bazar in
southeast Bangladesh. Before the crisis began, Bangladesh was already
grappling with its own humanitarian challenges, and hosting some
212,000 Rohingya who had escaped Myanmar during earlier periods of
violence and persecution.

The speed and scale of the influx over the course of a three-month
period in 2017 has placed tremendous strain on host communities and
Bangladesh as a whole, making it one of the world’s largest and worst
refugee crises.

Today, there are some 860,000 Rohingya seeking refuge in Bangladesh

and at least 1.3 million people — Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi
host communities — who rely on humanitarian assistance to meet their
basic needs. More than half of them are children. These populations live
in desperately overcrowded camps and communities, highly vulnerable
to oncoming monsoon and cyclone seasons.

Example of famous man who are Refugees

The Refugees Salvation Army (ARSA), also known by its former
name Harakah al-Yaqin (meaning Faith Movement in English), is
a Refugees insurgent group active in northern State, Myanmar.
According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis
Group, it is led by Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, a Refugees man
who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Mecca, Saudi
Arabia. Other members of its leadership include a committee of
Refugees s in Saudi Arabia

Myanmar's Anti-Terrorism Central Committee declared ARSA a

terrorist group on 25 August 2017 in accordance with the
country's counter-terrorism law. ARSA is also considered a
terrorist group by Malaysia.
ARSA has been accused by Myanmar's government of being
involved with and subsidized by foreign Islamists, despite there
being no firm evidence proving such allegations. ARSA
subsequently released a statement on 28 August 2017, calling
government allegations against it as "baseless" and claiming that
its main purpose is to defend the rights of Refugees.

The physicist Albert Einstein arrived in America in 1993 after he

and thousands of other Jews fled persecution in Nazi Germany.
That year, the Nobel laureate and humanitarian called for the
founding of the aid organization that was to become the
International Rescue Committee.
Although much of the world greeted the Nazi takeover with
indifference or apathy, some people were alert to what was
happening and the threat it represented. By July 1993, a new
rescue committee of 51 concerned individuals had swung into
action, galvanized by Einstein.

Conclusion

Most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the
place where they grew up. Maybe they will only move as far as
the next village or city. But for some people, they will need to
leave their country entirely – sometimes for a short time, but
sometimes forever.

There are many reasons why people around the globe seek to
rebuild their lives in a different country. Some people leave home
to get a job or an education. Others are forced to flee persecution
or human rights violations such as torture. Millions flee from
armed conflicts or other crises or violence. Some no longer feel
safe and might have been targeted just because of who they are
or what they do or believe – for example, for their ethnicity,
religion, sexuality or political opinions.  

These journeys, which all start with the hope for a better future,
can also be full of danger and fear. Some people risk falling prey
to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Some are
detained by the authorities as soon as they arrive in a new
country. Once they’re settling in and start building a new life,
many face daily racism, xenophobia and discrimination.