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Context
Considered as a stateless minority, the Rohingya in Myanmar were denied citizenship in 1982 by the government of Myanmar and have faced violence and discrimination over decades. Following a wave of Myanmar military violence in August 2017 in Rakhine State that the UN designated as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, 730,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to nearby Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Bangladesh hosts now more than 967,000 Rohingya refugees, in some of the largest and most densely populated refugee camps in the world. With limited movements, access to regular income and livelihood opportunities in camps, it is estimated that 95% of the Rohingya refugee population is moderately to highly vulnerable, and remain entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance.
At the same time, Cox’s Bazar district is characterised by some of the poorest living conditions in the country, with approximately 33% of its population living below the poverty line, mostly rural communities (78%), that are quite isolated and thus with difficult access to basic services such as healthcare and education.
With the refugee population being almost double the host community population in Ukhiya and Teknaf, the massive increase in population density following the influx, coupled with the pre-existing lack of livelihoods and levels of poverty and vulnerability among the host community population, has led to tensions over labour competition, falling wages and price hikes of daily essentials.
Most of the agricultural land in Ukhiya and Teknaf is no longer available due to the establishment of refugee camps, and overcrowding has also heightened the risk of landslides and fires. The perceived increases in crime and security concerns, and high stress over environmental resources leading to deforestation and the depletion of water sources, have been reported as sources of tensions between host community and refugees.
In addition, large camp areas are in hilly, formerly forested areas that are highly vulnerable to landslides and flash-flooding during the monsoon season. The provisional materials of refugee camp shelters and the poor living conditions of the host community makes both population groups especially vulnerable to weather conditions such as with Cyclone Mocha in May 2023, and Cyclone Hamoon in October 2023.