DHAKA, Bangladesh —
ANGOC participated in a two-day field visit to Ukhiya and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh on 26 to 27 November 2018. The short mission organized by Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD), a national CSO member of ANGOC, aimed to acquire first-hand information on the Rohingya refugee situation on the ground, and the effects of the crisis from the perspective of local host communities. Interviews were conducted with representatives from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Regional Office for Southeast Asia, from a local CSO working with host communities, a female Muslim community, and a male Buddhist community.
The field visit team also visited a nearby refugee camp, where they were able to engage in informal discussions with the Rohingyas living in the site.
Based on the findings, observations, and recommendations formed from the mission, a short report was produced. The document flagged concerns such as the scarcity of access to resources, increase in the prices of basic commodities, plummeting of local wages, employment of Rohingya refugees as laborers, and illicit activities within and outside of the camps.
Several recommendations were also offered with to facilitate voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. Citing the report, “the oppression of one marginalized group causes disenfranchisement of other groups, and this crisis should not be shouldered by one country alone. With this, we call on the international community to be in solidarity with Bangladesh in finding solutions for the Rakhine refugee crisis in both the short-term and in the long run.”
Ending with commitments on the part of CSOs as well, the document reads, “We intend to shed more light on the refugee crisis, and its enduring effects on the people and the environment. We will carry the results of and recommendations from this short mission back to our own countries, and will engage with National Human Rights Institutions and Commissions (NHRI/Cs), the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), and the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF), and South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), to raise the discourse at national and regional levels.”
The field visit report was shared and disseminated during a media briefing on 29 November 2018 in Dhaka, during the Regional Workshop on Land and Water Governance in Asia: Resource Sharing and Cooperation co-organized by ALRD and ANGOC.
Read the full filed visit report here
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