Cox’s Bazar
UNHCR's joint response plan to be launched Tuesday
The 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) of US$943 million for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis will be launched on Tuesday.
The US$943 million plan seeks to meet the needs of more than 880,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the surrounding host communities in Cox’s Bazar District.
Most Rohingya refugees, some 740,000, fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has called for renewed international commitment, support and solidarity for Rohingyas ahead of next Tuesday’s donor conference.
It is not clear yet whether Bhasan Char is included under the JRP or not.
The 2021 JRP brings together the efforts of the Government of Bangladesh, and 134 UN agencies and NGO partners to target almost 1.4 million people this year, said UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic in Geneva recently.
Also read: UNHCR calls for strong global support for Rohingyas
Jointly co-hosted by the Government of Bangladesh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR, the virtual 2021 JRP launch event will highlight the most immediate needs and ongoing humanitarian response.
The virtual 2021 JRP launch event is scheduled to run from 10:00am to 12:00 pm CEST Geneva (2:00pm – 4:00pm GMT+6 in Dhaka; 3:00pm – 5:00pm GMT+7 in Bangkok) on Tuesday (May 18). The event will be live streamed.
Last year, the United Nations appealed for more than US$1 billion to meet the needs of the Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar District.
At the end of 2020, this appeal was just 59.4% funded.
"We stress that the international community must not only maintain support for refugees and their hosts, but also adapt to new and emerging needs and pursue the search for durable solutions," said the Spokesperson.
More than 880,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the surrounding host communities in Cox’s Bazar District are brought under the plan.
Also read: Don’t worry about Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char: Dhaka to UNHCR
Most Rohingya refugees, some 740,000, fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017.
With the refugee crisis in its fourth year, Bangladesh needs robust and sustained international support to ensure the safety and wellbeing of stateless Rohingya refugees, saidMahecic.
This must not become a forgotten crisis. Both Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh, having generously hosted them for decades, must see the world standing with them, said the Spokesperson.
Adding to the complexity of this crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded vulnerabilities for refugees and host communities alike.
To date, the Government of Bangladesh, with the support of the humanitarian community, has effectively managed the COVID-19 response and the spread of the disease in the Rohingya camps and surrounding areas, though the trajectory of the virus remains unpredictable, UNHCR said.
A coordinated and inclusive response has saved lives. However, it is critical to ensure the continued delivery of all humanitarian assistance and protection services.
Also read: Redouble efforts to find solution to Rohingya crisis: UNHCR
The needs of Rohingya refugees reach beyond subsistence and physical safety. Refugees, like any other people, cannot be allowed to wait for years without access to education and options for a decent life and a meaningful future.
In order to mitigate the risks of people taking dangerous onward journeys, more must be done to ensure that refugees have hope in Bangladesh, and of a future back home in Myanmar.
Otherwise, they may increasingly risk such journeys by land or sea to find a solution elsewhere.
The search for durable solutions must remain focused on the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar, when conditions allow them to do so.
However, the ongoing crisis and political instability in Myanmar have added new layers of complexity to this challenge.
Hanging body of young woman recovered from Cox’s Bazar hotel
Hanging body of a girl was recovered from a hotel in Kalatali area of Cox’s Bazar on Friday evening.
The deceased was identified as Chenoara.
According to hotel sources, the deceased along with a male friend managed to check in on Thursday after lobbying the caretaker despite closure of all hotels in the district following ban on tourism activities in the lockdown.
Being suspicious, the caretaker broke into their room the following day as he didn’t hear anything from them for a long time, only to find the lifeless body of the girl hanging from the ceiling fan.
The boy was not in the room during this time.
Also read: Young woman found dead in Gulshan; case filed against Bashundhara MD
Upon receiving the news police rushed to the spot and took the caretaker under custody for interrogation.
Later two separate teams of PBI and CID collected evidence from the spot.
Police suspect that the girl was raped and then suffocated to death. Later the murderer hung the body with a ceiling fan to present the event like a suicide.
Police Inspector Bipul Chandra confirmed the news to UNB.
He said that the body has been sent to a local morgue.
Conclusion on the cause of death can only be made after receiving the autopsy report, he added.
2 shot dead in separate incidents in Cox’s Bazar
Two people were gunned down in Pekua and Teknaf upazilas of Cox’s Bazar district early Monday.
In Pekua upazila, a woman was shot dead and two others sustained bullet injuries in an attack by a young man at Barobakia Bodamajhi Ghona in the upazila around 2:30 am.
Also read:'Yaba trader' killed in Cox's Bazar 'gunfight'
The deceased was identified as Selina Akter while the injured are Nazmur Sakib and Saiful Islam of the area.
Saifur Rahman Majumdar, officer-in-charge of Pekua Police Station said one Mamun had an enmity with Selina over the ownership of a piece of land.
As a sequel to the enmity, Mamun along with his associates swooped on the house of Selina and opened fire on them, leaving Selina dead on the spot and two others injured.
Hearing sound of gunshots, local people went to the spot and caught Mamun and another one and handed over them to police.
In another incident, a young man identified as Imam Hossain was shot dead reportedly by some miscreants in Teknaf upazila on Sunday night.
Also read:Woman killed in elephant attack in Cox's Bazar
Officer-n-charge of Teknaf Police Station Habibur Rahman said Khalek Bahini, a local terrorist gang, might have killed him for establishing supremacy.
Police recovered the two bodies and sent those to local hospital morgue for autopsy.
Rohingya relocation: 1,716 more going to Bhasan Char in 6th phase
More Rohingyas are being relocated to the Bhasan Char island in the sixth phase.
On the second day of the sixth phase, more than 1,700 Rohingyas were taken to Chattogram from the camps in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday.
Cox's Bazar Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Shamsuddauja Nayan said that 1,716 Rohingya men, women and children left for Chittagong on 25 buses in the morning and at noon.
Also read: Don’t worry about Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char: Dhaka to UNHCR
Rohingyas willing to go to Bhasan Char were brought to the temporary transit point at Ukhiya Degree College ground and given necessary items including food, water and medicine.
They would be taken to Noakhali’s Bhasan Char from Chattogram’s Patenga under the Navy’s management.
Also read: Don't undermine, misinterpret genuine efforts: Dhaka on Rohingya relocation
Earlier, on March 30, the first day of the sixth phase, 2,495 Rohingyas reached Chattogram for Bhasan Char.
In five previous phases, over 14,000 Rohingyas were shifted to Bhasan Char from the camps in Cox's Bazar.
Rohingya relocation: 2,495 going to Bhasan Char in 6th phase
About 2,500 Rohingyas are being relocated from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char island in the 6th phase.
Cox's Bazar Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Shah Rezwan Hayat said 47 buses carrying the Rohingyas have reached Chattogram.
Rohingyas willing to go to Bhasan Char were brought to the temporary transit point at Ukhiya Degree College ground and given necessary items including food, water and medicine.
Rohingya Majhis (leaders) said many forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals are now willing to move to Bhasan Char after learning about the facilities and quality of life there.
Also read: Rohingya relocation: 1,778 more heading towards Bhasan Char
Cox's Bazar Additional RRRC Shamsuddoza Nayan said the Rohingyas would be taken to Bhasan Char from Patenga under the Navy’s management on Wednesday.
In five phases, over 14,000 Rohingyas were shifted to Bhasan Char.
Bangladesh is currently hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char. Most of them came here since August 25, 2017 when the Myanmar military launched a brutal offensive targeting the mainly-Muslim ethnic minority.
Where is Bhasan Char?
It surfaced 20 years ago 34 kilometres off the mainland and was never inhabited.
Bangladesh spent millions of dollars to develop Bhasan Char and plans to relocate 100,000 Rohingyas there in phases in the face of growing concerns over the extreme congestion in Cox’s Bazar camps and to avert any untoward incident.
Also read: Don’t worry about Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char: Dhaka to UNHCR
Contractors say the island’s infrastructure is like a modern township. A police station was also set up there recently.
Who are the Rohingyas?
The Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
Members of this ethnic minority are denied citizenship by Myanmar and many are forced to live in squalid camps in apartheid-like condition. State-sponsored discrimination against the Rohingyas stretches decades back.
Also read: Don't undermine, misinterpret genuine efforts: Dhaka on Rohingya relocation
Rohingya crisis and Bangladesh
Bangladesh has long been urging the global community to take effective steps to put pressure on Myanmar to create a congenial atmosphere for Rohingya repatriation but there has been little progress so far.
The presence of the huge number of Rohingya refugees in the coastal district has put them on a collision course with the locals. Many Rohingyas have allegedly got involved in various criminal activities.
Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar train service expected to augment tourism prospects
Unveiling a fresh route with the potential of attracting both foreign and domestic tourists, the government is set to launch a Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar train service at the end of next year.
The fresh initiative is expected to further boost tourism to the coastal beach town famous for its long, unbroken stretch of natural sandy sea beach, at the southern tip of Bangladesh.
The installation of rail tracks for the route will be concluded by December 2022, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told UNB.
“Visitors will be able to travel on train direct from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar next year. Although the project term was fixed until June 2022, I’m keeping six months in hand,” Sujan said.
Two Bangladesh Railway projects are among the ten megaprojects sketched by the government, the minister informed, adding: “One is to install rail tracks from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar.”
Also read: Dohazari-Ghumdhum rail line to connect China, Malaysia: Minister
Once it opens, the railway’s expansion in the tourism hotspot of the region will be expanded significantly and at the same time it will contribute for the advancement of the country.
To attract the tourists railway stations will be decorated lucratively and safety of the commuters will be ensured, Nurul Islam said.
Rohingya camp fire: Humanitarian community calls for compassion
The humanitarian community has called for compassion for Rohingyas in Bangladesh as a massive fire ravaged through camps leaving thousands destitute.
"We’re calling for a show of compassion and solidarity towards the Rohingya refugee population during this very difficult time," the community said in a joint press statement on Tuesday night.
Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) issued the joint press statement.
It said they are deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh left destitute by the fire that raged through four camps on March 22.
Fire services and civil defence, emergency and response teams and aid agencies rushed to the areas affected by the fire and helped move refugees to safer locations, the statement reads.
"Tragically, reports from the camps indicate that at least 11 people are said to have lost their lives in the fire and more than 500 others have been injured. Around 400 people are unaccounted for," it said.
Also read: Rohingya camp fire: Death toll climbs to 11
The government authorities and aid agencies worked throughout the night to help those impacted and assess damages in the camps.
The refugees who fled the fires are taking shelter in various locations.
Many are staying with relatives or in learning and transit centres which are accommodating the most vulnerable people.
The government of Bangladesh and aid agencies are providing water, hot meals and high energy biscuits as well as emergency healthcare to those affected.
The fire consumed shelters and personal belongings of refugees as well as essential facilities such as hospitals, primary health facilities, learning centres, and women-friendly spaces in the camps.
"Teams on the ground say the scale and intensity of the fire is unlike anything seen before in the camps," the statement said.
Also read: Fire at Rohingya camp caused 'enormous devastation': UNICEF
Some 24 hours into the response, preliminary assessments by aid agencies have found that some 10,000 Rohingya refugee families (approximately 45,000 persons) were displaced and a similar number of shelters have been damaged or destroyed in the camps as a result of the fire. Assessments are still ongoing.
"As the humanitarian response continues, healthcare and mental health support is being provided to those who’ve been injured or experienced stress as well as first line responders."
Moving forward, it said, the priority will be to reunite families and children who were separated during the fire and the subsequent movements to safe places, as well as to identify and support persons with specific needs, such as older persons, pregnant women and persons with disabilities.
Aid agencies are also monitoring the safety conditions of refugees to mitigate risks, as they remain vulnerable to incidents of theft, harassment, and exploitation.
Another priority for authorities and humanitarian actors will be to replace the key documentation that Rohingya refugees lost in the fire, it said.
Rescue efforts proved to be challenging as a result of the presence of perimeter fencing. In some instances, refugees themselves cut through the fence to escape the fire.
Also read: Fire breaks out at Rohingya camp in Ukhiya
Limited mobile connectivity in the camps also hampered the ability of refugees to call for immediate assistance and contact their families, the statement said.
"It also continues to limit the coordination of the aid response."
Refugee volunteers are playing an invaluable role in the response.
They are the first responders, helping people to safety, supporting fire response efforts and continue to work to support aid efforts on the ground.
The humanitarian community is urging the public to respect privacy of those Rohingya refugee families who have either lost family members or have been impacted by fires.
Ensuring safety of Rohingya women the main challenge: Brac
Around 52% of Rohingya refugees are women and girl and 55% of them are between 18-59 years. However, ensuring the safety of Rohingya women is the main challenge, according to Brac.