Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2021 3(1) gender-based violence (‘SGBV’) has become more prevalent. We will expand on these themes in the part below. A Food and Water Médecins Sans Frontières (‘MSF’) notes that food and water distribution and medical care was reduced by 80% at the outset of the pandemic, to reduce the possibility of the virus spreading further. 11 As Muhammad points out, although the World Food Programme delivers food in the camps, it is not enough for most families during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, refugees worked in informal capacities and could supplement the food rations with their own income. However, paid work has almost entirely ceased since the onset of the pandemic. Presently, he notes that refugees are provided with a monthly meal box. If they want to procure nutritious food beyond this box, they are compelled to pay high local prices, which they cannot afford without their informal incomes. As a result, people are suffering from malnutrition and related ailments more frequently than before. Muhammad also states that water shortages are a regular occurrence every summer, and refugees often resort to drinking non-potable water. He notes that his family, among the 32,000 refugees who have lived in Nayapara and Kutupalong refugee camps for 30 years, 12 have never had a reliable source of potable water. The short supply of potable water and running water for toilets increase the likelihood of the settlements becoming the site of a COVID-19 outbreak, due to the lack of sanitary conditions. 13 Baths, toilets and water are communally shared, and there are open sewers in the camps. Evidently, potable water is even more crucial during the pandemic. B Housing and Camp Infrastructure The Bangladeshi Government initially banned the construction of permanent housing in the camps. The refugee influx was treated as a temporary crisis that would be resolved with future repatriation. 14 For that reason, although some Rohingya people have lived in Cox’s Bazar for generations, accommodations are made mainly of bamboo, rather than more durable materials, such as brick and concrete. Due to the fragile and makeshift, yet densely packed, housing which is permitted, refugees lack privacy and security. 15 Their homes are prone to damage 11 12 13 14 15 Médecins Sans Frontières, ‘Relocations, Reduced Services Leave Rohingya Communities at Breaking Point in Bangladesh’ Médecins Sans Frontières (online, 21 January 2021) <https://www.msf.org/rohingya-communities-are-breaking-point-bangladesh> This anecdotal figure was provided by Muhammad. Michael Sullivan, ‘COVID-19 has Arrived in Rohingya Refugee Camps and Aid Workers Fear the Worst’ NPR (online, 15 May 2020) <https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-liveupdates/2020/05/15/856584129/covid-19-has-arrived-in-rohingya-refugee-camps-and-aidworkers-fear-the-worst>. Victoria Milko and Clare Hammond, ‘The World’s Largest Refugee Camp is Becoming a Real City’ Bloomberg (online, 27 September 2019) <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-27/how-the-rohingya-refugee-campturned-into-a-city>. ibid. 150