"Education for all, why not for refugees?" Rohingya refugee children are missing out on education in Bangladesh
By Kate Schuetze and Alex Neve
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Bibi Ayesha is a 15 year old Rohingya girl who was born in Bangladesh. Her family fled Myanmar during a wave of human rights violations against the Rohingya community in 1992. They have never been given official refugee status in Bangladesh. Her father, determined to ensure that education was accessible for his daughter, managed to enroll her in a local school near the Nayapara Refugee Camp where they live.
Earlier this year in January, however, the Bangladeshi government began strictly enforcing a long-standing policy that no Rohingya students would be allowed in local schools on the grounds that they are refugees and must go to schools in the camps. However, the government does not allow formal schools in the camps, because they believe that will encourage refugees to remain in Bangladesh. The only options are the very basic Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) and Learning Centres, which mainly offer a place to play and some very rudimentary lessons.
My children deserve better than I had
Content warning: violence and violence causing death
Balukhali Refugee Camp, Bangladesh
"We've been through this before, but never like this. Never so many people. And now it feels like it might go on and on. It has been eighteen months, but it feels like forever."
Mohammed Ali, a 65-year-old farmer, was returning from his fields to his home in the village of Kyein Chaung, in the Township of Maungdaw, in Myanmar's Rakhine State in early September, 2017. And the attack began. The village was surrounded by government soldiers who began shooting at villagers and setting fire to houses as they advanced. The people of Kyein Chaung knew what was coming as they had already seen dead bodies floating down the stream from other neighbouring villages.
"There was only one thing to do. We knew we had to leave and we ran. And fortunately, no one in our own family was injured or killed. But we heard cries around us. We knew that could easily have been us. And it was only good luck that it was not."
When is a crisis no longer a crisis? Certainly not yet for the Rohingya
As I arrive in Bangladesh, joining an Amnesty International delegation that is here for two weeks to meet with and hear from Rohingya refugees in the country, a specific question comes to mind. In this world of ours – a world marked of late by far too much conflict, hate and division – when and why is a crisis no longer seen to be a crisis?
In a world which feels to have an ever-shortening attention span and seems only able to give real attention to two or three emergencies at once, we forget and move on from today's or this week's crisis more quickly than ever.
Meanwhile, politicians regularly bandy the word crisis about to inflame tensions and score political points when it isn't a crisis by any measure; be it Donald Trump's manufactured border wall crisis or the overblown rhetoric around a supposed-influx of refugees crossing the Canada/US border. We see quick resort to the word crisis in those situations, largely to undermine support for refugee protection.
Remains from the ashes
Photos: Ahmer Khan (Twitter, Instagram) Words: Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner (Twitter)
The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have yet to come to terms with the trauma they had experienced in Myanmar. Ahmer Khan visited Cox's Bazar to document in photographs the Rohingya people with what they held dearest to them during their troubled escape from home…writes Saad Hammadi
Last November, when word spread of a possible repatriation of a few thousand Rohingya refugees, hundreds sought sanctuary in other camps in Cox's Bazar to escape a forced return and avoid being identified.
In the desperately overcrowded camps across Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar, many Rohingya refugees have still not recovered from the trauma they experienced in Myanmar. That painful escape from home still haunts them.
Bangladesh: Authorities must investigate attacks on journalists and activists
Bangladesh's authorities must investigate the ongoing violent attacks on journalists and activists ahead of the country's 11th parliamentary elections due on 30 December 2018 and immediately release those journalists and activists who have been arrested arbitrarily, Amnesty International said today.
Condemning the recent attack on journalists and activists, Amnesty International's South Asia Campaigner, Saad Hammadi said, "The authorities must impartially investigate these attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice. Such incidents are detrimental to a peaceful atmosphere for people to exercise their civil and political rights."
At least 12 journalists on duty to cover the elections at a Dhaka constituency came under attack and 16 vehicles carrying them were damaged by a group of 30-35 attackers on 24 December 2018. The guest house where the journalists were resting also came under attack.
Bangladesh: New Digital Security Act imposes dangerous restrictions on freedom of expression
Responding to the newly enacted Digital Security Act 2018 in Bangladesh which has drawn serious concerns for press freedom and the right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International's South Asia Campaigner, Saad Hammadi, said:
"This law imposes dangerous restrictions on freedom of expression. Instead of learning from the lessons of the past, it seeks to repeat them. Given how the authorities have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of people in the past six years under the Information and Communication Technology Act, there are serious concerns that the new Act will be used against people who speak out."
"The government's disregard for editors' recommendations and the concerns of the general public shows lack of concern for the grave issues regarding the bill that have been raised by civil society. The government must revert its course from this regressive law, that compromises its international commitments; and ensure they fully uphold the right to freedom of expression as protected by international human rights law."
Bangladesh: Nearly 100 arrests as pall of fear descends on civil society
The Bangladeshi authorities must end the crackdown on protests that has swept up nearly 100 people, Amnesty International said today.
Two weeks after thousands of school students came out on to the streets of Dhaka, demanding safer roads after two students were killed by a speeding bus, a pall of fear has descended on civil society with protestors being subject to intense surveillance online and arbitrary arrests.
"The Bangladeshi authorities must end this crackdown and release all protestors who were peacefully exercising their human rights. The students were overwhelmingly peaceful, and only a tiny minority of people were involved in violence. Their actions must not become a pretext for an attack on civil society where dissent is punished and people live in fear that they will be arrested next," said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International's Deputy South Asia Director.
Bangladesh: International support for Rohingya refugees is urgently needed
Responding to the news that UN officials have called for nearly $1bn (USD) in assistance for the nearly one million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar District, Amnesty International's South Asia Director, Biraj Patnaik, said:
"The money is urgently needed to help the Rohingya refugees to be able to live in safe and adequate living conditions in the camps in Bangladesh. This is not a short-term crisis and there is little prospect of them being able to return to their homes in Rakhine State any time soon.
"As the monsoon season looms, there is a great risk of landslides and floods striking the camps. The threat of diseases, such as diphtheria, measles and cholera, has to be aggressively combated with mass vaccinations and appropriate sanitation. The refugees also need food, clean water and healthcare. The needs of the local host communities, which have been severely affected, must also be carefully considered.
Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees must not be relocated to uninhabitable island
The Bangladesh government must abandon all plans to relocate more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees on to an uninhabitable island, Amnesty International said today.
On Tuesday, the Bangladesh government approved a $280 million plan to develop the isolated, flood-prone and uninhabitable Thenger Char to temporarily house Rohingya refugees until they are repatriated to Myanmar.
"It would be a terrible mistake to relocate the Rohingya refugees to an uninhabitable island that is far from other refugee settlements and vulnerable to flooding," said Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.
"Having opened its doors to more than 600,000 Rohingya over the past three months, the Bangladesh government now risks undermining the protection of the Rohingya and squandering the international goodwill it has earned. In its desperation to see the Rohingya leave the camps and ultimately return to Myanmar, it is putting their safety and well-being at risk."
The Thenger Char, also known as Bhashan Char island, only emerged into view 11 years ago. During monsoon season, it is highly vulnerable to flooding.
One of the world's poorest countries confronts ethnic cleansing on its doorstep
How can Bangladesh cope with the influx of 600,000 Rohingya?
Published from the The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/11/06/one-of-the-worlds-poorest-countries-confronts-a-genocide-on-its-doorstep/?utm_term=.c2570b32bff9
Omar Waraich is deputy South Asia director at Amnesty International
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — They may be out of harm's way, for now, but their ordeal continues. Over the past two months, more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border from Myanmar, also known as Burma, to seek shelter in Bangladesh. Not since the Rwandan genocide has a humanitarian crisis unfolded so fast and on such a scale. If one counts the hundreds of thousands who were already based here, driven out by earlier waves of violence in Rakhine state, there are now more than a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh: Donors must pledge support for Rohingya refugees
More countries need to step up and pledge their support for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh amid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, Amnesty International said today.
The meeting of high-level representatives of donor countries at the UN's office in Geneva on Monday must include pledges of new money, including from countries in the region, to support rising numbers of Rohingya refugees who have sought shelter in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district.
The recent influx estimated to be nearly 600,000 people has brought the total Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district to more than 800,000.
"This is an unprecedented crisis that needs an immediate and sustained response from the international community. This means that more countries, particularly those from the region, need to play a much bigger role and share the burden of responsibility. Bangladesh, a poor country which has shown extraordinary generosity, cannot be left to deal with this situation alone," said Omar Waraich, Deputy South Asia Director at Amnesty International.
Bangladesh: Provide safety to Rohingya refugees
Responding to the news that 18,000 members of the predominantly Muslim Rohingya community have fled fighting in Myanmar to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh, Amnesty International's South Asia Director, Biraj Patnaik, said:
"These people are searching for safety in desperate circumstances. The human rights abuses in Rakhine State have forced them to leave and make it impossible for them to return any time soon. The authorities in Bangladesh must not close the border to those fleeing – they must keep the border open for their safe passage and offer the Rohingya all the necessary assistance they need."
Amnesty International's call on the Bangladeshi government comes as the International Organization for Migration has said that 18,000 Rohingya have fled fresh violence in Myanmar into Bangladesh.
Bangladesh: 28 men suspected of being gay are free
Good news! All 28 men arrested on suspicion of being gay are now free
Twenty-eight men were arrested during a social event on May 19, 2017 in Kerinaganj, a town south of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Why? Though the individuals were detained on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Act 1990, Amnesty International believes that the arrests were due to the fact that the gathering was known to be frequented by gay men.
Twenty-three of the men were granted bail in June. The remaining five men were released on bail on July 21. Amnesty does not know if any conditions were attached to the bail.
The men do not appear to be facing imminent danger any longer. Amnesty International will continue monitoring the situation, and respond accordingly if there are any developments.
Bangladesh: Prominent writer abducted
The Bangladesh authorities must make every effort to trace the whereabouts of and recover a prominent writer who has been abducted and may have been subject to an enforced disappearance, Amnesty International said today.
Farhad Mazhar, a prominent columnist, poet and political analyst, was taken from outside his home at approximately 5am this morning by a group of unidentified people. Half an hour later, his wife, Farida Akhtar, received a haunting phone call from Farhad, when he is reported to have told her: "They are taking me away, I'm afraid they will kill me."
"The Bangladesh authorities must make every effort to locate Farhad Mazhar, bring him back to safety and hold the perpetrators accountable," said Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International's South Asia Director.
"Far too many people have gone missing in Bangladesh over recent years without any further news of their fate. The government must end impunity for these abuses."