An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh incidents per week were reported in the camps. On 22 March 2021, a huge fire swept across three camps leaving 11 persons dead, 500 in need of medical assistance, 400 missing, and affecting the lives of some 90,000 persons. 10,000 shelters and 1,600 facilities were reportedly destroyed or damaged. Hundreds of host community structures were also affected. There were rumours in the community that the fires were started deliberately.104 The fires have further exacerbated the protection and security risks faced by Rohingya refugees and impacted the ability of humanitarian actors to meet additional needs with overstretched resources amidst a restricted programming space. Such incidents highlight the need for investigating the cause of fires, reliable information sharing mechanisms and strengthening fire prevention, evacuation and emergency response strategies/capacities in the camps. 3.2.3 Sexual and gender-based violence Nearly 52 per cent of the total Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh are women and girls. Gender roles in Rohingya society are strictly defined and certain gendered practices are normalised, including different forms of gender-based violence (GBV) like domestic violence, sexual harassment and assault. Rohingya refugees have experienced widespread sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by Myanmar security forces before and during their mass forced displacement to Bangladesh in August 2017. Lower levels of well-being105 were recorded in female-headed households or households with no male members of working age due to socio-cultural norms, insecurity, GBV and lack of gender-responsive facilities. Cultural practices like purdah in a woman’s honour (izzot) enforces seclusion of women and is seen as a marker of Rohingya values and identity. Women and girls commonly report incidents of violence and harassment which restricts their ability to access public services and facilities, including WASH facilities and water collection points, and free movement around the camps. The lack of safety and security also affects their employment prospects outside their homes. Despite the scaling up of gender-responsive services and significant gender mainstreaming efforts, there remains a high prevalence of GBV in the Rohingya refugee camps. Data from International Rescue Committee (IRC) 106shows that nearly one in every four Rohingya refugee women and girls who consented to GBV screening at their centres reported experiencing GBV. These figures likely represent only a small fraction of the overall number of such incidents, as GBV is hugely under-reported due to stigma, threat of retribution, and lack of access to quality GBV response services.107 COVID-19 related restrictions rendered most gender-based programmes in the camps as non-essential except GBV support services and sexual and reproductive health programmes which continued at reduced speed and coverage. Despite the availability of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, women and girls reportedly refrained from seeking medical services in SRH facilities due to 104 BBC Media Action, Translators without Borders, Centre for Peace and Justice, New difficulties and despair: Rohingya people share their concerns following the tragic fire of 22 March 2021, What Matters: Humanitarian Feedback Bulletin on Rohingya Response (Special Edition on the Post-fire situation), 7 April 2021, available at https://app.box.com/s/s4xbl628yrxbvmr43u42n9cn74qbj8i6 105 For details, see, ACAPS, ACAPS-NPM, What are the characteristics that contribute to household vulnerability, 4 October 2020, available at https://www.acaps.org/sites/acaps/files/products/files/20201004_acaps_thematic_review_vulnerable_households_rohing ya_refugee_response_0.pdf 106 International Rescue Committee (IRC), The Shadow Pandemic: Gender-Based Violence among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, May 2020, available at https://www.rescue-uk.org/sites/default/files/document/2247/theshadowpandemicbangladesh.pdf 107 Ibid. 28 Act for Peace / May 2021