A petrifying fire broke out in Cox’s Bazar, a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Sunday. The fire annihilated shelters, health centres, learning facilities, and mosques. The camp— which is a home to over a million Rohingya refugees who fled from Bangladesh— observed another disaster as around 12,000 people were left without shelter due to the mishap.
The “Purposeful act” of burning the Rohingya camps
Fires are a frequent trouble in the Rohingya camps, where people breathe in utterly cramped conditions in flimsy bamboo and tarpaulin shelters. According to a Bangladesh defence ministry report, between January 2021 and December 2022, there were 222 fire incidents in the Rohingya camps, including 60 cases of arson. In March 2021, at least 15 people were killed and about 50,000 others were displaced after a fire swiped an entire block in a settlement.
The cause of Sunday’s fire is not yet known as per the information lent by Faruque Ahmed, a local police official. Mijanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, reported that about 2,000 shelters were demolished, leaving an estimated 12,000 people without shelter. The fire also destroyed 35 mosques and 21 learning centres for the refugees. However, there were no reports of any injuries or deaths.
The increasingly severe situation in the camps has also led to an upsurge in people taking perilous boat journeys in an attempt to reach Indonesia and Malaysia. Almost 400 people, mostly Rohingya, are believed to have died during such journeys in 2022, according to the UNHCR, making it one of the deadliest years at sea in almost a decade for the Rohingya.
John Quinley, the director of the non-governmental organization Fortify Rights, stated that the entire environment of the camp is deleterious from the cutting of rations to ongoing security situations to threats towards women. He urged Bangladesh to create enduring and not ephemeral solutions spanning legal status, freedom of movement, access to livelihoods,etc.
The Rohingyas and their movement to Bangladesh
The Rohingyas draw roots from the Rakhine region in Myanmar previously known as, the Arakan region in Burma. However, the Burmese, the dominant ethnic community along with the other 134 ethnic groups of Myanmar, consider the Rohingyas as illegal immigrants to the nation. Till 2016, due to an accentuating disharmony between the two communities, the tale of persecution, harassment, and abuse had become a regular affair in the news.
But in 2017, the issue raised eyebrows across the world as lakhs of Rohingyas were seen traversing water bodies to reach the nearby countries, every day for several months, to escape the predicament taking place with them in their native country.
The incessant fleeing has resulted in the settlement of 1.3 million Rohingya refugees in the world’s 8th most populous country. Initially, the country gave sanctuary to the distraught community but an unregulated influx over time affected the ecology & economy of the nation. Cox’s Bazaar, a famous tourist destination in Bangladesh has become a host to the world’s largest refugee camp.
The recent fire in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp underlines the urgent need to address the Rohingya crisis and the critical living situations in the camps. Immediate and long-term action is required to prevent further fires, ensure the safety of the refugees, and provide them with sustainable solutions for their situation. Advancement needs to be made by the government over the afflictions concerning Rohingyas else, their life will continue to be the same as it was/is in Myanmar.
