A man in Camp 16 also linked restrictions on movement to family communication
and livelihoods:
Before we could communicate with our relatives in other areas properly, but
since the lockdown
most people have been facing difficulty to support their
they can't earn money and can't go to the fields to do work.
And NGOs cannot come into the camps like before ... We cannot move
family because
anywhere like before.”
A 54-year-old woman in Camp 16 shared her family’s story of separation and great
difficulty due to the lockdown.
My family has six members. Two of them are grown up; they are girls. One of
them got engaged with a Rohingya person in Malaysia. There was a mutual
process between the bride and bridegroom in order to bring her to Malaysia.
Both families negotiated with a trafficker. One day, I went to the clinic and
the girl was brought by a trafficker to Malaysia without my knowledge or
consent. My daughter asked her younger sister, “Please talk to mother and tell
her to pray for me because I am going to Malaysia without her consent.” When
I came home I called the trafficker and was told that he would deliver her to
Malaysia soon. While she was in the hands of the trafficker, I struggled to go
there and see my daughter. But I could not go because of lockdown. After
three days, the trafficker told me that the girl had already boarded a boat.
For two months we didn't get any information about our daughter.
After two months, she called and explained that she had reached Malaysia,
but the Malaysian government hadn’t allowed her to enter due to Coronavirus
concerns. The boat was instructed to go back from where they came. When it
returned and reached Cox's Bazar beach, she told me that she was in the
hands of the [Bangladesh] Navy and talking with me using the Navy's phone.
The Bangladeshi government also didn't allow the boat people to enter the
camp. They were brought to Chittagong and told that they would be given a
Coronavirus test.
The people on the boat asked the Navy why the boat seemed to be traveling
such a long way, given that Chittagong is quite close to Cox's Bazar. That is
when they were told that the Navy intended to transport them to Bhasan Char.
Once there, my daughter was able to call and told me that she didn't feel
comfortable there. She didn't get proper respect. After a few days, the
government came to our home and collected our address, telling us that they
would bring back my daughter. But now we are hearing that the government’s
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