Bangladesh

In late September and early October, a delegation of Southeast Asian parliamentarians travelled to Belgium for a series of meetings in Brussels, and to attend the Asia-Europe People’s Forum in Ghent. The delegation spent almost a full week in the country to strengthen relationships with the European Union institutions and fellow NGOs, as well as to raise awareness of the troubling human rights situation in Southeast Asia.

Alert is a quarterly magazine published by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-USA) that features compelling stories and photography from our work in the field. Below is an excerpt from MSF-USA Board President John P. Lawrence's introduction to the Fall 2018 issue (Vol 19. No. 3).

How we treat migrants and refugees making the journey from Central America to the United States has become a focus of public attention in this country and abroad.

The overall levels of political violence remained relatively static in the South and Southeast Asian regions over the last few weeks, whereas the number of reported fatalities increased significantly last week. The overall levels of demonstrations decreased across the region, especially in Pakistan and India.

The Bangladeshi communities were the first to respond to the massive influx of Rohingya refugees in 2017, providing lifesaving assistance together with the Government of Bangladesh. The rapid increase of population however has strained the already meagre local community resources, infrastructure, public services and affected the economy, particularly in Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts. Rise of prices of food and transportation, pressure on water resources and basic services, environmental and infrastructure degradation (e.g.

Cox’s Bazar – Young girls sold into forced labour are the largest group of trafficking victims identified by the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps.

IOM counter-trafficking experts warn that more than a year into a crisis that has seen the number of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar soar to almost a million, more desperate families are sending their young daughters off into dangerous work situations because most households have no other way to earn money in the camps.

Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 88,736 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2018 through 14 October, with 40,598 to Spain, the leading destination this year. In fact, since late September’s arrivals were reported, Spain in 2018 has now received via the Mediterranean more irregular migrants than it did throughout all the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 combined. Spain’s numbers for the year are slightly higher than the figure printed (see chart below) and reflect arrivals only through last Wednesday.

Category 1 incident reporting: On any day an incident occurs, the Site Management Sector, with technical support from IOM NPM, collates reports received from Site Management Support agencies. A report is then circulated each evening. This provides an overview of incident, needs, and immediate response provided. Please note that information provided through these initial incident reports is preliminary. Numbers are subject to change with more detailed assessment.

Introduction

It has been eleven months since the massive influx of Rohingya refugees into the hilly and impoverished region of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh began. The pace of arrivals has slowed from thousands of people per day to about 8,000 between January and May 2018.
The humanitarian operation has had no chance to take a step back and reflect, however, as the monsoon season has arrived, bringing with it the prospect of extreme weather, destruction of property and potential loss of life.

Dhaka, 15 October 2018 – In response to the collapse of the Padma River embankment in the central Bangladeshi district of Shariatpur, the European Union is providing EUR 80 000 (BDT 7.84 million) in humanitarian aid funding to address the needs of the most vulnerable families. The assistance will directly benefit a total of 15 000 people.

Gennike Mayers, IFRC

Rahima Akter Khushi is a female interpreter who has been with the Red Cross Red Crescent emergency field hospital since the start. “At first it was very difficult for me. During my first week I had four consecutive nighttime shifts and I was sleeping in the patient’s tent without any mosquito net and worked in the maternity ward helping to deliver babies.”

INDONESIA

Risks *

246,600 individuals (est.) / 57,424 HH at risk of landslide or flooding 41,751 ind. / 9,660 HH at highest risk of landslide prioritized for relocation**

incl. 24,126 ind. / 5,636 HH at highest risk of landslide in Kutupalong-Balukhali

Completed Relocations

26,177 ind. / 5,840 HH relocated to date, of those at risk of landslide prioritized for relocation (63% of prioritized caseload completed). incl. 1,112 HH to camp 4 extension and 1,180 HH to camp 20 extension

Remaining