Rohingya Refugee Camps

Group 20
Zainab Almukhtar - Fatimah Alhabdan - Rand Almohaish - Shahad alshihri
Farah althikrallah - Latifah mohammed - Sadeem alqarni
Rayanah Almulhim - Maryam Alnajjar - Norah Al Naseeha - Manar Almaghnem
Ghaida Alateeq - Ghaida AlQarni - Fatimah Bu Ali - Rabab Alhaddad
Aeshah Alhejji - Majd Alsaleh - Alaa Alrashed - Jumanah Almohammed Saleh

Introduction about the Rohingya Crisis Voluntary work

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority group who have lived for centuries in How to Volunteer to help Rohingya Refugees?
predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. The Rohingya have suffered decades of violence, Most people in Rohingya camps are the elderly, women, and children who urgently need
discrimination and persecution in Myanmar. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have food and water, shelter, and basic health care. Bangladesh government and other agencies
fled to Bangladesh and live as refugees in overcrowded camps in locations prone to do not have sufficient funds to feed and provide basic shelter & medical services to more
frequent natural disasters. The Rohingya have been denied citizenship since 1982, than one million refugees. We can help by donating to UNICEF and NGOs to continue to
making them the world’s largest stateless population. The Rohingya refugee crisis is support Rohingya refugees. Many organizations including UNICEF, IMANA, and VSO also
caused by the Rohingya people having long faced violence and discrimination in offer the opportunity to volunteer in the Rohingya Refugee Camps. [11,12,13]
Myanmar. 1977 to 1978: About 200,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to refugee camps in
Bangladesh. 1989 to 1991: A military crackdown follows a popular uprising. Burma is
renamed Myanmar. Another 250,000 refugees flee to Bangladesh. 1992: The Myanmar
and Bangladesh governments agree to repatriate refugees. Hundreds of thousands of
people return to Myanmar over several years. 2016: A military crackdown follows an
attack on a border post in which police offers were killed. About 87,000 people fled to
Bangladesh. 2017: Mass exodus from Myanmar. August: Following Rohingya militia
attacks on several police and army posts on August 25, state security forces launch a
campaign of horrific violence and terror targeting the Rohingya community. More than
700,000 Rohingya flee Myanmar. The cycle of mass displacement begins again, this time
on an unprecedented scale. September: The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) declares the
Rohingya refugee crisis a major emergency and scales up its response. November:
Myanmar and Bangladesh agree to start repatriating refugees within the next two
months. According to international law, repatriation should be voluntary by refugees
only when conditions are safe. [1] maternal and
newborn health
care

clean, safe Immunizing

Most common diseases and conditions drinking water children

Infectious Diseases: Major prevailing health problems are unexplained fever, acute Providing
UNICEF's Distributing
respiratory infection, and diarrhea. Rohingya camps experienced a sudden outbreak of counseling and
emotional
support services support
Vitamin A
supplements

diphtheria in November 2017 and a measles outbreak in December 2017-April 2018. [2]
Nutritional Deficiencies: In children aged among six to 59 months, nearly 50% were protection
Treating children
services for girls
suffering from stunting and anemia and about 25% had Global Acute Malnutrition. and women risk
of gender-based
suffering from
severe
malnutrition
violence
Around 10% of women were undernourished. [3] Expanding
access to
education

Child Health: Rohingya children’s health is affected by the substandard conditions that
they face in the camp, such as open sewers and substandard sanitation systems. They
also suffer from an extremely high prevalence of acute malnutrition or wasting. [4]
Mental Health: Prolonged exposure to conflict and persecution compounded by
protracted conditions of deprivations and displacement increases the refugees'
vulnerability to mental health problems including posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety,
and depression. About 36.0% and 89% were suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorder and depression. [5]
Gender-Based Violence (GBV): Rohingya women frequently experience sexual abuse or
exploitation such as rape, forced sexual favors, and unwanted sex. [6]
Voluntary work
Global organisations that provides opportunities for volunteers to help refugees:
• UN World Food Programme ( WFP ): helps volunteers to provide the refugees most urgent
needs of food and water until they can have access to shelters and cooking stoves.
• The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugees agency
(UNHCR): provides a volunteering opportunity in developing mental health and
physiological support team composed of 5000 volunteers to help refugees who lost
everything during the tragedy emotionally and psychologically.
• UK– based international non –governmental organization (GO) Khalsa aid: supports the
volunteers in providing services to build stable and safe shelters. [7,8]
Types of Volunteer Work that Rohingya Refugees need:
• Teaching/ Education Volunteer: Volunteers help supplement the gaps by giving their
knowledge and skills to teach refugee children and adults.
• Health And Advisor Volunteer: To respond to the sharp increase in pregnant women, new
mothers and newborns in need of care.
• Fundraising Volunteer: This will allow children and their families to get the care they need
at this in difficult times (such as COVID-19 crisis). [9,10]
Insight into the Rohingya refugee camps
Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, inhabited by Rohingya refugees is the
world's largest refugee camp. The camp began informally in 1991, after thousands of
Rohingyas fled into Bangaladesh. On 30 June 2020, the Kutupalong refugee camp and
expansion site had a combined population of 598,545 and 187,423 families, with an area of
just 13 square kilometres. The living conditions inside the camps are catastrophic: they are
overcrowded, poorly lit, and lacking adequate sanitation. The presence of police and the
military has increased. At the same time, armed groups have expanded their power base in
the camps. As a result, we are hearing about more kidnappings, violence, and extortion. The
refugees still live in emergency-like conditions that are substandard and unhealthy. Not
allowed to leave the camp freely, they have been confined to overcrowded, tight spaces, with
insufficient water, inadequate shelter, and few educational opportunities. The majority of the
refugees are malnourished. They do not have sufficient food to feed their families, nor are
they all. [14,15]
References
1. https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/rohingya-refugees-bangladesh-facts
2. Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS). Epidemiological bulletin week [Jun;2018].
3. Leidman E, Humphreys A, Cramer BG, Toroitich-Van Mil V, Wilkinson C, Narayan A, Bilukha O. JAMA. Acute malnutrition and anemia
among Rohingya children in Kutupalong Camp, Bangladesh. 2018 American Medical Association; 319:1505–1506.
4. Tay, Alvin Kuowei, et al. The culture, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Rohingya refugees: a systematic review. Epidemiology
and psychiatric sciences 28.5 (2019): 489-494.
5. Riley A, Varner A, Ventevogel P, Taimur Hasan MM, Welton-Mitchell C. Daily stressors, trauma exposure, and mental health among
stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Transcult Psychiatry. 2017; 54:304–331.
6. Riley A, Varner A, Ventevogel P, Taimur Hasan MM, Welton-Mitchell C. Daily stressors, trauma exposure, and mental health among
stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Transcult Psychiatry. 2017; 54:304–331.
7. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1088732
8. https://www.khalsaaid.org
9. https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/how-volunteers-help-refugees.html
10. https://www.unv.org/tags/rohingya
11. https://www.vsointernational.org/news/blog/volunteering-in-rohingya-camps-during-covid
12. https://imana.org/imr/volunteer/serverohingya/
13. https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/rohingya-crisis
14. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/camp-conditions-deteriorate-rohingya-refugees-bangladesh-face-terrible-dilemma
15. https://www.msf.org/ten-years-rohingya-refugeespast-present-and-future-report-summary