Rohingya refugees feel forgotten by the world, and they are not wrong. In an era of staggering levels of displacement, if the cost of aid is increasing as available funding dissipates, donors must share the responsibility of ensuring humanitarians are able to do more with less. I couldnt even take any of my valuables out of the flames. The Rohingya do not. On the ground, that means fewer women-friendly spaces, fewer learning facilities for girls, and fewer support systems for survivors. Bangladeshs relocation of Rohingya refugees has disturbing parallels to offshore detention of refugees elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. View of the sprawling Kutupalong refugee camp near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Nov. 24, 2017.

Beyond passive observation, donor representatives must join us to actively negotiate access, promote principled aid delivery, and lobby to ensure large demographics do not remain excluded from humanitarian programming. Refugees in Bangladesh do not have a choice, but we do. Asia, Central Some refugees get to return home; others are condemned to a life in limbo. Since last night sitting here in the cold, we have had no food, except a cup of hot water provided by some aid agencies. Too much time is being spent on inane paperwork when the focus needs to be on implementation, inclusion, and quality of programming. In a survey conducted by Save the Children in August last year, about 73% of Save the Children staff said children they worked with referred to traumatic experiences in Myanmar when talking about more recent events in the camps, including fires. At the very least, multi-year, flexible funding needs to become the norm and not the exception. Prolonged deprivation amplified by two years of COVID-19 has produced a noxious mix of desperation and dread. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all. The United States failed to match Beijings intense, coordinated diplomacy across Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 crisis. The world owes Bangladesh a standing ovation for taking in an astonishing 1.3 million Rohingyas. Suddenly my wife pulled me out of my room and rushed far from the burning shelters.

The first in a series of post-NSL cyber laws may ironically weaken the tech sector and make Hong Kongs internet less secure. I have lost everything., Shamsuddin*, 70, said: During the fire, I was asleep. At a time when protection programming should be expanded, funding cuts mean that many of our partners have been forced to slash their protection programs by half. Aid can be a part of the solution to displacement, but it cannot be the sum total of our intervention.

E{1=*h!U/*9vcJCc,rHeTef#pcwQKiT3_uhQ.X |:wK@$`9XE7GPa6( In the dry months, fires frequently sweep through the camps, tearing through flammable bamboo and destroying everything in the flames path. This indifference, too, spans decades. The economic crisis was made at home, a result of structural political and economic weaknesses. Save the Children is providing first aid and psychological support to distressed children. }rF )QY[q|K $_Tje%OuJ$(JelC`{wO_1w=f? EuLx4g^'7oX^](N@xJ@O[Px*:?y1c1)^#v&":0rk]rqk#'Fsz&;M t{3Ecw,f94m 8qE)c0xFy~9DyEvz>84fQ85/QHxzVH`YWMG(754q}qr`o"T$]RU\UEIkM-4 Y0'Ruq$y9nc|||Gy5+,^Zq]$V+JU;b7E|R(PAIYq 3{i e/s)[@;PT8x}+ P5#o6Guan>P\\(;FNs,r;"Qshe HMS4ni#7MiW{HnBjnKT`3N!2'DDhq0#lq5Iam"BS2{pmOalkk Jainab*, 25, who is eight months pregnant, said: When the hue of smoke and crying started, we came out of our house immediately. None of this should be normalized. Many refugees around the world live in cities or in temporary homes with solid walls. In the summers, rains batter the tarpaulins, flooding shelters and causing life-threatening landslides. In March last year, a huge fire swept through the refugee camps, killing at least 15 people and destroying more than 10,000 shelters. 2022 Diplomat Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Will his opponents in the civilian and military establishment concede his demand? Specifically, lobbying to remove arduous bureaucratic barriers to operations will increase value for money, but donors can, and should, also push the envelope on old innovations like cash transfers, which greatly reduce the cost of aid while giving people the freedom to make their own choices. Yet again, thousands of Rohingya refugees have watched what little they had left reduced to wreckage.

The only education accessible to children in the worlds largest refugee settlement is provided by a network of unsupported community-based Rohingya schools. Money, Tokyo From Europe and North America to the Global South, trust in Beijing has rapidly deteriorated over the past few years. OCHA coordinates the global emergency response to save lives and protect people in humanitarian crises. The diversion of funds from one crisis to another elevates the suffering of some above the desperation of others. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.

Could the U.S. Air Force's plan to retrofit its F-35 fleet with new propulsion systems undermine the jet fighter's much vaunted interoperability? Disruptions in supply chains mean the cost of getting aid to communities has increased at a time when pledged funds are being diverted to regions of greater concern. Right now, of the $881 million needed to respond to the needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, only 13 percent has been funded, amounting to less than 30 cents per refugee per day. Child marriages are increasing, abuse and assault have skyrocketed, and women and girls consistently report feeling unsafe and unsupported. As Ukraine dominates global attention and funding, it almost feels like the rest of us are competing for crumbs. We need shelter and food right now.. ?.bD%;s@,Sk2I!=0'q#PTeUeMXa:gMa0uF]/@o `U;JnXF+2:C9I~Z|=XE.vumAaq7*^yT>/XK7. Taking food from the hungry to feed the starving is not good enough. But the problem runs deeper than a sudden dip in funding. Myanmar/Rakhine State - Response to displacement linked to AA-MAF conflict (January - June, 2022) [EN/MY], CCCM Camp Profiles, Central Rakhine, Myanmar, June 2022, Shelter/ NFI/ CCCM National Strategy- 2022-2023, Burma and Bangladesh - Regional Crisis Response Fact Sheet #5, Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. Asia, South I ran with my child to a safer place and watched my house burn to ashes. Abzhan admits a role in the events that led to his arrest, but suggests the situation was a set-up by the Kazakh authorities. Asia, Southeast The risk of fires in these extremely densely populated and confined areas is enormous, and disasters like this can be especially frightening for children. Too many grants continue to be fixed plans limited to 12 months, when the reality on the ground changes almost every day. We had less than a minute to respond, so we couldnt save any of our goods. The aid agency is distributing blankets and mosquito nets to families who have been left homeless by the fire, and is working to identify lost children and reunite them with their families. The governments they represent must lead the charge for political interventions in service of durable solutions. Any solutions have to start there. Enjoying this article? Save the Children is concerned that the fire could trigger past traumas for children, many of whom saw their homes set alight in Myanmar. Meanwhile, suppliers are pulling out of framework agreements because the price of everything has gone up overnight, and agencies are struggling to keep essential programs afloat. The loss is communal, the hopelessness pervasive. There were at least 100 fires in the camps in the first seven months of 2021 alone. The Talibans regressive ideology lies at the heart of its political program. Or, if that is too hard, we can accept the charge of inaction and admit what refugees in Coxs Bazar already know that despite global commitments, not all refugees are treated equally, not all refugees have the same rights, and not all refugees are supported to inform the decisions that shape their lives. But here too, in one country after another, the Rohingya are being turned back, incarcerated, or forcibly repatriated all in clear violation of international law. To make matters worse, the ripple effects of the crisis in Ukraine have not spared Bangladesh. The largest refugee camp in the world is located in Teknaf and Ukhiya, where shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin often stand on steep hill faces, crowded together so densely that any semblance of privacy is impossible. Generations of Rohingya have asked the world for the bare minimum a fair shot at a future only to be turned away, time and time again. Since 2017, Bangladesh has hosted nearly 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in crowded camps that pose increasing challenges for the country. Each of the last five years of the Rohingya exodus has been an exercise in rebuilding and loss. Despite global compacts and grand commitments to protect humans forced to flee, wherever the Rohingya turn to for safety, the doors seem to slam shut. Save the Childrens acting Country Director in Bangladesh, Dr Shamim Jahan, said: Just 10 days into 2022, and this is already the second fire of the year. As a last resort, some refugees are taking to the sea.

This World Refugee Day, we should recommit to forging a global coalition of solidarity and action to support Rohingya refugees, and ensure that 1 million people have a future worth believing in. Despite the challenges, I have never seen a more promising time for our people to find common ground.. Fire-resistant materials should be permitted and used when constructing shelters. Click here to subscribe for full access.

Asia, Pacific Defense, China COXS BAZAR, Bangladesh, 10 January, 2022 About 750 children have been left homeless in what is already this years second fire to tear through Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Save the Children said today.

Some families are staying with relatives in the affected camp while others have been displaced to nearby camps. The solutions are complex, but not impossible. m\h3^{8a^:T7g]KkXje&A??o;W\g)HP5tOe""wAk;AQTI>>#@`cg0 .xtc`E1{9z3+Ic"KqAhx9A Just $5 a month. Southeast for Us, U.K. Department for International Development/ Russell Watkins. No casualties have been reported, although two people are reported to have been injured. Power, Crossroads View, About Us, Write China doesnt think so and is pressuring Islamabad to deploy Chinese private security personnel to guard its projects and nationals in Pakistan. The organisation is also calling on the international community to find a long-term solution to the Rohingya crisis that addresses its root causes and allows for safe, dignified, and voluntary returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar when it is safe to do so. Here, between the fire and the flood, lives have stagnated.

The fire tore through the worlds largest refugee settlement in Coxs Bazar home to more than 1 million people on Sunday evening, destroying 300 shelters, which for more than four years have been the closest thing to home for Rohingya families fleeing Myanmar. There are no jobs, everyone is in debt, and no one can see a way out.

Asia, Asia Activists are keen to push back against propaganda that has portrayed the late dictator's reign as a "golden era.". Five years since fleeing the threat of genocide, almost 1 million people remain completely aid-dependent, neither legally recognized as citizens of Myanmar, the country that drove them out, nor legally considered as refugees by Bangladesh, the country that currently hosts them. Report, Trans-Pacific

The political crisis that resulted in the exodus of a million people requires a political solution, but indifference and inaction by regional leaders mean that the Rohingya in Bangladesh are farther away from home than they were five years ago. We could not see anything for the smoke. Ultimately, this incident shows yet again that children do not belong in refugee camps.. Beijings no limits partnership with Moscow is likely to destroy its dream of having European astronauts fly to the Chinese space station.

In Coxs Bazar, where I work in the Rohingya response, refugees tell us they feel forgotten by the world, and they are not wrong. "The government of Bangladesh only allows shelters to be built using temporary materials like bamboo, which are incredibly flammable. About 1,500 people have been left without shelter, including 750 children, and four temporary learning centres were burned to ashes, according to Save the Children. Imrul Islam is the advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Bangladesh. These camps were supposed to be safe for refugees who fled their homes in Myanmar over four years ago. With his partys victory in the Punjab by-elections, he is pushing for early general elections. It was naive to believe the group would ever give it up.