An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh materials, food and livelihoods opportunities.136 As the pandemic continued, refugee concerns shifted from the threat of COVID-19 to the greater threat to their overall well-being.137 Lessons learnt in the past year from the COVID-19 response in the camps demonstrate the need for proportional and balanced measures aimed at achieving both health and protection outcomes. The reduced humanitarian presence and limited availability of quality services during COVID-19 severely impacted community resilience as protection risks grew, community networks and camp security broke down, and economic vulnerabilities increased. It also depleted refugees’ trust in camp authorities and humanitarian service providers. The incremental expansion of the availability of services for Rohingya refugees, including protection related services, may help rebuild community trust and engagement, and reduce the use of negative coping strategies.138 3.2.6 Humanitarian space and operational constraints According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “humanitarian space” refers to an operational environment that allows humanitarian actors to provide assistance and services according to humanitarian principles and in line with international humanitarian law.139 Some humanitarian agencies have also defined ‘humanitarian space’ as the ability of affected populations to access protection and services. A recent study by ACAPS140 categorised Bangladesh as a country with ‘very high’ humanitarian access constraints across three key areas-access of people in need to humanitarian aid; access of humanitarian actors to affected population and security and physical constraints. Since 2019, Bangladeshi public opinion and national media narrative towards Rohingya refugees have shifted -portraying them as criminals, drug traders and security threats.141 Humanitarian agencies, mainly NGOs, are faced with several bureaucratic barriers at different operational stages in the Rohingya refugee response especially since the events of August 2019 marking the second anniversary of Rohingya influx from Myanmar. A series of restrictive and reactive measures were taken by the Bangladeshi authorities such as suspension of NGO activities,142 increased surveillance and persistent information requests including confidential data such as patient data in COVID-19 cases, as well as personal data of Rohingya volunteers and humanitarian staff, from multiple government actors, denial/delays in visas for humanitarian staff, and telecommunications restrictions among others. There was also a crackdown on Rohingya civil society groups operational in the camps as well as those agencies which support them.143 136 For details, see, Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (J-MSNA): Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees, July-August 2020, available at https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/msna_2020_factsheet_refugee.pdf 137 ACAPS, supra n. 94. 138 ACAPS, supra n. 130. 139 OCHA, Humanitarian Space, available at https://www.ochaopt.org/theme/humanitarian-space 140ACAPS, Humanitarian Access Overview, December 2020, available at https://www.acaps.org/sites/acaps/files/products/files/20201214_acaps_humanitarian_access_overview_december_2020 _0.pdf 141 See, Mushfique Wadud, How Narratives of Rohingya Refugees Shifted in Bangladesh Media, August 2020, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344486855_How_Narratives_of_Rohingya_Refugees_Shifted_in_Bangladesh_ Media. 142 Bangladesh withdrew 41 NGOs from Rohingya camps for ‘malpractices’, 31 August 2019, available at https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2019/08/31/bangladesh-withdrew-41-ngos-from-rohingya-camps-formalpractices#:~:text=The%20authorities%20withdrew%2041%20non,Foreign%20Minister%20AK%20Abdul%20Momen. 143 Sullivan, supra n. 68. 32 Act for Peace / May 2021