CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As most camp residents enter their fourth year of
displacement, a durable solution to the present crisis
remains elusive. While study respondents continue to voice
a desire to return home to Rakhine State, they also express
fear and unwillingness to repatriate until the questions of
their rights and citizenship are resolved. The Bangladesh
government and the international community have
responded to the humanitarian crisis by addressing the
refugees’ most pressing needs for food, shelter, and basic
healthcare, and this has undoubtedly saved countless lives,
but it is insufficient to maintain camp residents through the
hardships and challenges of prolonged displacement.
they need phone and internet access to stay in touch
in the meantime. Camp residents typically rely on chat
applications such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and IMO. This
requires access to a cellular data network and possession of
a domestic SIM card, which currently cannot be registered
under the name of a displaced person. Nearly all camp
residents have been issued a biometric “smartcard” by
the UNHCR and the government of Bangladesh. Allowing
refugees to use these cards as identification for purchasing
and registering SIM cards could ameliorate safety and
security concerns resulting from irregular procurement.
Communication stations managed by humanitarian agencies
could improve internet access in the camps and adjacent
host communities, which was unreliable even before the
current internet blackout. The network should also be
reopened in Rakhine State to ensure that families living on
both sides of the border can stay in touch.
This study brings to light the deep fracturing of Rohingya
families and the increasing fragility of their ties to
Myanmar. Camp residents are now more likely to have
family members living in a third country than in Myanmar,
and more than four out of five households are not sure that
they still have assets and properties to return to in their
home country. These are important barriers to repatriation
that will only increase over time. The camps are already
giving birth to a new generation of Rohingya who do not
speak the Myanmar language and have never been to
Myanmar.
Support the documentation of Rohingya-owned assets left in
Myanmar. Less than one family in five still has assets that a
relative is looking after. Most are uncertain about the status
of their possessions, and very few families are confident
that they could reclaim their land or house upon return.
Systematically documenting the assets of displaced families
and verifying their current condition and ownership status
would help safeguard them for eventual reclamation, and
it would also identify households that may need housing or
other assistance in the event of repatriation.
The study also shows how a lack of broad-based livelihood
solutions is condemning refugee households to extreme
poverty, aid dependency, and debt. Confronted with an
environment where only the most basic needs are covered
by aid but opportunities to work and generate income
remain severely limited, camp residents have little choice
but to go into debt. Some also engage in illicit activities,
or attempt the perilous journey by boat to a third country.
Most importantly, as Rohingya families struggle to make
ends meet, they are unable to plan for long-term needs
such as educating their children or saving for family
emergencies.
Improve transparent access to data relevant to the
repatriation process. Since 2017, Bangladesh has
submitted lists of families for repatriation to Myanmar,
some of which have been accepted and others rejected
for unknown reasons. Family lists and other forms of
archival documentation have been kept in Myanmar since
independence. These data should be shared in the interest
of transparency. They can be used to determine the original
residency of displaced and separated families. Similarly,
camp births should be carefully documented, and protocols
established to avoid future complications for families with
young children born outside of Myanmar.
The refugee households consulted during this study have
explained the hardships they face and the limited options
that are available to them. Their insights highlight the
urgent need for medium-term policies and interventions to
mitigate these hardships and help families preserve social
capital and become more self-reliant. This paper proposes
the following recommendations to improve pathways
for family reunification and increase the well-being and
economic resilience of camp households.
Explore bilateral approaches to the reunification of
families. This study establishes that roughly 7 percent of
camp households have immediate family members living
in countries with active refugee resettlement programs.35
Though this represents a small percentage of the overall
camp population, it is still 13,000 households. The recent
spike in boat trafficking incidents underscores the need
for other nations to help Bangladesh with the burden
of hosting refugees, as stressed by Bangladesh’s foreign
minister, Dr. AK Abdul Momen, in April 2020.36 Bilateral
cooperation is one way to pursue family reunification, at
least on a case-by-case basis. The most vulnerable refugees,
such as those without relatives in the camps, should be
prioritized. International resettlement programs could also
provide commensurate opportunities for Bangladeshi host
communities, for example through migrant work programs.
SUPPORTING SEPARATED FAMILIES
Facilitate communication across borders by restoring and
improving internet access in the camps, and allow camp
residents to use biometric smartcards as identification
to purchase and register SIM cards. Refugees with intact
family networks in Myanmar may find it easier to repatriate
in the future, and those with relatives in third countries
may gain access to much-needed remittances. Though
family reunification is a distant goal for splintered families,
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