Many members of the community are barbers, butchers, rickshaw pullers, domestic workers, drivers and handicraft workers and a large number of the women work as housemaids outside of the camp. During the lockdowns the majority of those working as maids lost their jobs due to a common perception among employers that the camps are high risk areas.15 Others working in the informal sector also lost their jobs when camp. Most people in the refugee camps live below the poverty line and continue to struggle to ensure basic necessities for survival including food and face a real risk of starvation. domestic legal framework, including the rights of citizens prescribed by the Constitution. The Draft Bill does not contain safeguards against childhood statelessness; children born abroad and not registered within two years are denied Bangladeshi nationality, and children can be denied nationality if a parent engages in an act of war or other activity against the state. For the is viewed as a big threat to the 2008 judgment, as Section 3 stipulates that the Bill shall prevail if there are inconsistencies with any other legal instrument, decree, judgment etc.23 If the 2008 judgment is overthrown, the citizenship of the Bihari community will be, once again, under review. THE CESF CONSORTIUM PROJECT This project, carried out by CoM, is working towards understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the Urdu speaking community. By conducting research through a baseline survey the project has FGD Participant, Male, 37, Mohammadpur CoM Chief Executive, Khalid Hussain Disrupted Education: One of the consequences of the lockdowns implemented as a result of COVID-19 is the move to remote online learning. In Bangladesh, the lack of internet inside camps means that children from the Urdu speaking community have limited access to online classes.17 STATELESSNESS AND THE RIGHT TO NATIONALITY IN BANGLADESH The laws governing citizenship and nationality in Bangladesh are the 1972 Constitution,18 1951 Citizenship Act,19 and 1972 Bangladesh Citizenship Order20 (later amended by the Bangladesh Citizenship Rule 1978).21 Article 2B of the 1978 Citizenship Rule provides that an individual is not allowed to acquire citizenship if he ‘owes, duct, allegiance to a foreign state’, regardless of whether an individual was a resident of pre1971 Bangladesh or not.22 This provision was utilised to deny the Bihari community their right to nationality. In its landmark ruling in the 2008 case of Md. Sadaqat Khan and others v. Chief Election Commissioner, the Bangladeshi Suthe Urdu-speaking community. The judgment further ordered the Election Commission to include the community in the electoral rolls and provide them with National ID Cards. However, cising their citizenship rights in practice. In February 2016, the Cabinet of Bangladesh presented a Draft Citizenship Bill which can cause statelessness as it clashes with the existing 4 are being used to train paralegals and volunteers to become ‘rights defenders.’ Rights advocates undertake casework in which they will assist community members through legal procedures, bridging the gap between the community and the government. Their work facilitates access to essential government services and provides support to the formerly stateless Bihari community, stateless persons or those at risk of stateless through a variety of social challenges such as domestic violence. This project aims to collaborate with legal organisations, engage with key stakeholders including District Commissioners and representatives of local government, the National Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, Members of Parliament and relevant UN Agencies, including UNHCR and UNDP. By working with and advocating before such stakeholders, the project aims to promote the prioritisation of this community in COVID-19 relief and raise concerns regarding the 2016 Draft Citizenship Bill. Council of Minorities (CoM) is a human rights organisation working towards helping different minority groups in Bangladesh to realise their human rights. Since 2013, the organisation has been advocating for the rights of the Urdu-speaking, formerly stateless people held in various detention centres across Bangladesh. Impact The project thus far has appointed ten human rights defenders in Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Rangpur and Saidpur. They are tasked with daily door to door outreach inside the camps and disseminating information on COVID-19, for example how to protect against infection, using masks and PPE correctly and how to maintain social distancing where possible in the camps. To date, 24,970 camp residents have been reached through their efforts. To date they have further organised 50 community group meetings in the camps reaching 750 residents. They have further been raising awareness on COVID-19 vaccinations; helping to register people online so they can access the vaccine and subsequently have, to date, taken 42 residents to government hospitals to receive their vaccines. Case Study In January 2021, Bangladesh began the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 40 and above. In order to secure a vaccination appointment one must register online. Mr. Mohammad Hashmat is a 55-year-old resident of Geneva Camp and a tailor by profession. He wanted to get the COVID-19 vaccine but did not know how to register online. As part of the CoM outreach activities, human rights defender, Mr. Sojib, visited Mr. Hashmat and helped him to register. Four days CoM CESF project outreach recipient, Mohammad Hashmat