As funding declines, both Bangladesh and the Rohingya face many risks
As a professor of population sciences, I feel the international community needs to understand that the demography of Rohingya Forcefully Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) is changing very fast, which will have multi-faceted consequences.
Every year, the Rohingya camps welcome over 30,000 newborns, posing significant risks and impacts. Nearly 200,000 children have joined the Rohingya camps within the last six years.
The demographic profile of FDMN shows that currently 55% of them are children, 41% are adults, and 4% are older people. More than half of the FDMN in the camps are under 18 years old and are experiencing limited opportunities for education, skills-building, and livelihoods.
All of this is happening in the backdrop of declining funding for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis.
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On 13 March 2024, when the United Nations (UN) launched the 2024 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, the Bangladeshi government emerged as the largest donor of humanitarian operations.
In 2022, Bangladesh spent around $1.69 billion on these FDMNs alone.
For 2024, the funding appeal seeks $852.4 million to reach 1.35 million in the population, including Rohingya refugees and host communities. The funding aims to help more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar and on the island of Bhasan Char, as well as 346,000 from host communities with food, shelter, health care, access to drinkable water, protection services, education, nutrition, livelihood opportunities, and skills development.
Currently, 117 distinct partners—ten UN agencies, fifty-eight Bangladeshi NGOs, thirty-five international NGOs, and fourteen other national and international organisations—are running 195 projects.
Bangladesh received only 50% of the sought funding in 2023, an inadequate amount that has been declining over time. In fact, the gap between total requirements and total incoming funding has increased since 2017. The funding gaps were 27% in 2017, 41% in 2020, and 51% in 2022, and this trend continues globally as the gap between humanitarian needs and funding continues to widen.
The allocation has now come down to $8 per person per month from the previous $12 for people over six years at the camps. Children up to six years old get food through a separate programme.
In December 2023, for the first time, Bangladesh faced declining funds from international sources. Bangladesh is seeking a billion-dollar aid package from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support socio-economic development efforts for the Rohingya population and the affected host communities.
The package, which includes $535 million in loans and $465 million in grants, aims to address the challenges faced by the FDMN and mitigate the impact of their presence on host communities. But relying on loans is not a prudent strategy to address the crisis. Taking out foreign loans to support the Rohingya FDMN could significantly increase Bangladesh's future debt burden.
My co-authored papers in the Journal of Global Health (2018), Lancet Global Health (2020), and Lancet Regional Health-Western Pacific (2021) demonstrated that the Rohingya influx has caused enormous challenges to improving their living conditions to ensure their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and other needs.
In the camps, child marriages and adolescent pregnancies are common. The practice and use of contraception among the Rohingya refugees in the camps are low, and the birth rate is high, which needs more critical attention.
To implement existing and upcoming projects, effective interventions must be taken urgently. In this regard, while funding is vital, strategic funding in priority areas like family planning needs to be considered cautiously.
But underfunding in previous years has had severe implications for Rohingya women, children, and men's ability to meet basic needs and survive in crowded camps, affected by insecurity and natural disasters.
As the Rohingya households in the camps are vulnerable and remain dependent on humanitarian assistance, sustained assistance is critically and urgently needed, particularly for women and children who face higher risks of abuse, exploitation, and gender-based violence.
We also know that local host communities have lost their land. Common features are low income, youth unemployment, limited land cultivation, etc. The normal relationship with FDMN is deteriorating, as the local host experiences frustration and sadness.
Crime rates are sharply increasing—human trafficking in this area, illegal drug business, clashing with different groups within and outside the camps, murders, and gun fights among the criminals in the camps.
Additionally, there is ample reporting on the Rohingya FDMN's movements outside the camps, where they engage in activities such as providing cheap labour and interacting with local communities. Also, the number of Rohingya embarking on dangerous journeys at sea has increased over time.
Therefore, we urgently need to sustain the voluntary repatriation of FDMN. Considering that there are 1.2 million FDMN in Bangladesh, it will take almost 6.5 years if 500 return to Myanmar daily.
However, we do not know when they will return to Myanmar, so the international community must continue adequately funding them. Not only recognising the challenges, but also managing the adverse situation should be the current course of action for all stakeholders.
We should increase humanitarian aid to continue supporting the FDMN and the host in addressing the worsening protection and security challenges in the camps, while avoiding unintended effects. For that reason, maximizing the collection of humanitarian assistance and focusing concerted efforts on the repatriation process should be a key focus for all stakeholders in alleviating the immediate funding gap and ensuring a sustainable and effective solution to the crisis.
Dr Mohammad Mainul Islam is a professor at the department of population sciences, University of Dhaka.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
