Rohingya children are living ‘in constant fear’ due to spiralling crime and violence in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, seven years after more than 700,000 people fled violence in Myanmar, said Save the Children.
The child rights organisation interviewed 73 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and adolescent children, in Cox’s Bazar, who described rising violence in the camps, including kidnappings for ransom, abductions and the recruitment of children by Rohingya armed groups in Bangladesh. Their interviews give an insight into how insecurity is affecting children’s lives and underline the need for increased protection for Rohingya refugees 1.
Children and their parents described a state of constant fear of armed groups, particularly at night. The violence—and the fear of violence and abductions—has led many Rohingya families to stay in their shelters and prevent their children from going outside.
Levels of stress, anxiety, and depression were already high 2, and focus group discussions revealed that struggles with mental health have increased as security in the camps has declined.
Nearly half (48%) of refugee households surveyed reported crime and violence as a protection concern, with 37% saying they felt ‘very unsafe’ or ‘a bit unsafe’ when going out alone at night, according to a camp wide assessment by the humanitarian coordination group in Cox’s Bazar 3.
Faruq*, 16, was recently kidnapped and told he would be killed if his family didn’t pay the ransom. His abductors initially demanded more than US$25,000, but he managed to escape. He said:
“The kidnappers are threatening us in various ways. Because of all this, we can’t even sleep well at home. We stay up all night waiting for morning and worrying.
“Now, we can’t go to school to study. We can’t even leave our house. We don’t want any more kidnappings or extortion here. We want to be able to study well and play sports. We want to live life in such a way that we can do whatever we wish.”
Surveyed families have also reported a rise in child marriage and forced adult marriage due to insecurity. Some said that armed groups have been forcibly marrying Rohingya women and girls while others said that child marriage is the only way to protect their daughters from sexual violence.
Kohinoor*, 15, told Save the Children that her family has been threatened by armed groups wanting to force her sister into marriage. She said:
“There is gunfire day and night. We live in constant fear. My sister can’t sleep at night due to panic; she remains restless and disturbed all night.
“We can’t even make it to school; we see people standing with guns. When I was in school, I dreamed of becoming a doctor when I grew up. Now, I can’t even study to become a doctor because there’s constant shooting here.
“We are scared, too scared to go anywhere. We want a life like before when we could leave the house and go here and there and could play, could read. We wish everything could be the same again.”
With refugees too afraid at times to leave their shelters, Save the Children saw a decline in people accessing its services, including receiving cash distributions and attending learning and health centres, particularly in May and June.
The child rights organisation also saw a fall in the numbers of Rohingya volunteers in the camps, with only half of day labourers turning up for work in May. Community health workers described occasions where they were too afraid to leave the health centres alone for household visits, disrupting access to healthcare for vulnerable refugees.
The recent political turmoil in Bangladesh in July and August saw a reduction in the number of police on duty across the country, including in the camps in Cox’s Bazar. The lack of police at the time led to an increase in insecurity and created more fear and anxiety for the Rohingya refugees.
Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh – just over half of whom are children. For seven years, Rohingya refugee children have gone without formal education, parents and caregivers don’t have jobs, and all refugees have become more vulnerable to deaths and injuries from large-scale fires, flooding and landslides – and now violence and insecurity in the camps.
A Child Protection staff member for Save the Children in Cox’s Bazar said: “A sense of panic prevails among parents. For those [children] who are over the age of 15 or around 13, 14 years old, there is a sense of fear and dread within the families. They are frightened.
“They are afraid to leave their homes, worrying about facing any problems outside.
“As a result, there are fewer children in the playgrounds or on the streets within the camps. Our volunteers and social workers say that the number of children has suddenly decreased [at our Child Clubs]. They are scared to come.”
Shumon Sengupta, Country Director, Save the Children in Bangladesh, said:
“Crime and violence are now among refugees’ greatest fears. For seven years, Rohingya refugees have been confined to the camps with limited freedom of movement. They have nowhere to run to, nowhere they can escape from the threat of abductions and violence.
“Rohingya children should not grow up in fear. In camps where the Bangladesh authorities have intervened, levels of crime have fallen – we urge the new Interim Government of Bangladesh to listen to the concerns of Rohingya children and protect all refugees from violence and insecurity.
“Rohingya refugees’ needs are as urgent today as they were seven years ago. The deteriorating situation in the camps is also pushing people into taking dangerous and deadly boat journeys in search of a better life. Dwindling aid means resources in the camps are drying up further and barely meeting the survival needs of nearly one million people. It’s time to accelerate progress towards long-term solutions. It’s time to give the more than half a million children in the camps a promise of a better life and hope for their future.”
Save the Children urges Bangladesh, governments in Asia, and the international community to stand by Rohingya refugees. Increased aid, legal protections, education, and job opportunities are essential to ensure they live with dignity and hope.
Save the Children is one of the leading international NGOs working in the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh. We provide services including child protection, access to learning, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene services, and distribution of shelter and food items. We work in 29 of 33 Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and have reached about 600,000 Rohingya refugees, including more than 320,000 children, since the response began in 2017.
