Field Reports In-Depth Reports Letters & Testimonies
Overview
Refugees International is concerned about the integration and family reunification of stateless Urdu-speaking minorities (Bihari). RI also focuses on the situation of the Rohingya refugee population from Burma in Bangladesh.
Current Humanitarian Sutiation
In May 2008, a Bangladesh High Court judgment confirmed the citizenship rights of Biharis, a minority from the Hindu region of Bihar who had been stateless since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. Bangladesh continues to host approximately 160,000-200,000 Urdu speakers in 66 camps in 13 regions across the country. They face overcrowded living quarters, poor sanitation systems, and inadequate education and health care facilities. Despite the court judgment, little has been done to improve current conditions so that the community gains the full benefits of citizenship.
Bangladesh also hosts a growing Rohingya refugee population. Rohingya are Muslims from Arakhan state in western Burma, where they are currently stateless and subjected to draconian government policies restricting their ability to travel, work, and marry. They have fled their homes since 1988 to escape government campaigns against their communities.
28,000 registered Rohingya refugees live in two camps in the Cox’s Bazaar district (Nayapara and Kutupalong). An unofficial camp site at Leda was constructed in 2008 to house an additional 10,000 Rohingya asylum seekers. An additional 200,000 undocumented Rohingya live in Bangladesh, with additional Rohingya continuing to join them each year.
Like the Bihari, Rohingya camp residents live with rudimentary shelter, poor water and sanitation systems, and inadequate education and health facilities. Sexual and gender-based violence are endemic throughout the Rohingya refugee population. Outside the camps, Rohingya live in impoverished Bangladeshi communities, and strategies to provide services to both refugees and their local hosts are necessary. Increasing numbers of Rohingya are utilizing traffickers to reach Malaysia, where there are better livelihood opportunities.
Action Needed
Bangladesh and international donors should support the integration of the both the Bihari and Rohingya communities into Bangladeshi society, and, joined by Pakistan, assist Biharis who wish to reunite with family members there.