Amnesty calls for global assistance to protect Rohingya refugees from severe monsoon weather

Amnesty International or AI has called on the global community to step up assistance for more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar as they face severe monsoon weather.

“More than 200,000 Rohingya refugees are at risk of landslides and floods during the current monsoon season, according to the United Nations,” the AI said in a statement on Wednesday to mark World Refugee Day.

Over the past five weeks, more than 28,000 people have been affected as 133 landslides have damaged more than 3,000 shelters, it said.

“The Rohingya refugees languishing in the overcrowded and threadbare camps in Cox’s Bazar are in urgent need of international assistance,” said Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International’s South Asia director.

“A mere fifth of the United Nation’s appeal has been committed so far. The world cannot stand by while Bangladesh is left to shoulder the responsibility alone.”

CAMP CONDITIONS

The assistance is needed to provide for the Rohingya’s most basic needs in the camps, including access to adequate housing, said the statement.

Almost all of the shelters are currently composed of flimsy bamboo and tarpaulin, many of them perched precariously on mud hills, according to the AI.

The Bangladesh government has imposed restrictions on building more permanent structures within the refugee camps, it said.

In anticipation of the extreme weather, these settlements have merely been reinforced with further layers of bamboo and tarpaulin, according to the statement.

While humanitarian workers have mounted operations to repair damaged settlements, it said the camps stretch over such an expanse that they cannot reach everyone.

In almost all of the camps, there are no durable settlements, leaving them vulnerable to further weather events, it said.