Rights group urges Bangladesh, UN and donors to reduce overcrowding and restore funding for safer shelters and disaster mitigation
File photo: Ak Mohammed Sadek
The deadly risks facing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were highlighted by the landslides in July that killed at least 17 people and displaced more than 3,000, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.
In a statement, HRW said Bangladesh has been hosting more than one million Rohingya refugees for nearly a decade. Expanding families continue to live in bamboo and tarpaulin shelters on steep, deforested hillsides that are highly vulnerable during the monsoon season. As more refugees arrive from Myanmar, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has repeatedly warned that overcrowded camps face deadly cyclones, floods and landslides.
The rights organisation called on the Bangladesh authorities,
The rights organisation called on the Bangladesh authorities, the UN and donor governments to reduce congestion in the camps and urgently restore funding for embankments, drainage systems, access roads and emergency relocation sites.
“Every monsoon is becoming increasingly deadly for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with denuded hills sliding away under makeshift structures, as the funding to buttress the camps has dried up,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at HRW. “These are not simply natural disasters, but a predictable outcome of policies that put refugees’ lives at risk.”
According to the Rohingya Coordination Platform, 286 weather-related incidents were reported across the camps in Cox’s Bazar between July 4 and July 9, affecting 26,119 refugees. These included 95 landslides that displaced 4,307 people, partially damaged 2,809 shelters and destroyed 13. Several learning centres, toilets, tap-water facilities, retaining walls, pathways, stairways, bridges and roads were also damaged. Bangladesh authorities relocated more than 1,000 refugees from high-risk areas, although many were unwilling to leave their homes.
HRW interviewed nine people for the report, including
HRW interviewed nine people for the report, including five Rohingya refugees affected by the landslides and four humanitarian workers involved in the emergency response.
One civil engineer working in water, sanitation and hygiene told HRW that the camps’ design had been flawed from the beginning.
“When the Rohingya first took shelter here, the camps were made by cutting hills and without planned drainage systems,” he said. “Now, because of funding cuts, sustainable landslide-prevention work, especially brickwork, cannot be done properly, while the Bangladesh government refuses to allow permanent constructions in the camps.”
HRW said newly arrived refugees face greater risks
HRW said newly arrived refugees face greater risks because they are not allocated formal shelters and are forced to rent or buy unsafe spaces.
“I repeatedly asked NGO [nongovernmental organisation] staff for a shelter, but they told me shelters were not being allocated for new arrivals,” said one man who arrived in Bangladesh in August 2024. His two daughters and two grandchildren died on July 6 after the makeshift shelter they had built on the edge of a hill collapsed.
“I didn’t know the hill would collapse like this,” he said.
As of May, at least 152,000 Rohingya refugees had arrived in Cox’s Bazar since fighting resumed in November 2023 between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group, it mentioned.
The Bangladesh government has yet to decide
The Bangladesh government has yet to decide on a UNHCR request for additional land to accommodate the new arrivals, who have been squeezed into the existing 24 square kilometres allocated for the camps.
“The government does not want the refugees to think Bangladesh as their permanent place to stay,” one humanitarian worker said. “So, during any meeting the authorities seem very strict about not allowing any shelters for the new arrivals.”
Aid workers said refugees are often reluctant to leave their homes because of the growing demand for shelters.
We repeatedly raise awareness, but we can’t move
“We repeatedly raise awareness, but we can’t move many people who are at risk,” one aid worker said. “Just now in Camp 18, I saw that after a landslide, one house had half-collapsed into another house, but we still couldn’t move people.”
They also said emergency relocation remained difficult because of the lack of available space in the camps. Temporary relocation sites, including learning centres and spaces for children, adolescents and women, often lack privacy and adequate services.
“They worry that in learning centers or other relocation places, many people stay together and there are problems with access to toilets and other privacy concerns,” the aid worker said.
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In December 2024, the Bangladesh government approved
In December 2024, the Bangladesh government approved the construction of temporary shelters stronger than the existing bamboo and tarpaulin structures. It also approved three semi-permanent shelter models and has been considering pilot projects for two-storey shelters to ease congestion. The government had also agreed to rebuild 50,000 shelters. However, humanitarian funding cuts announced in January 2025 halted the plan. The forest department, local representatives and members of the host community opposed the proposals, saying they could lead to permanent settlement and the loss of reserved forest land.
Shelter safety should be treated as a human rights issue rather than a step towards permanent settlement, HRW said. It urged donors to fund the approved safer shelter models and called on Bangladesh to continue allowing disaster-resistant shelter designs and safe relocation sites.
The Shelter and Camp Coordination and Camp Management appeal is currently only 42 percent funded, leaving a funding gap of $73.9 million, while the disaster risk management plan faces a shortfall of $23.2 million. The Rohingya Coordination Platform has called for immediate funding for slope stabilisation, drainage, watershed management, improved access and technical capacity to protect lives and maintain humanitarian operations throughout the monsoon season, which usually ends in October.
“Rohingya refugees won’t benefit from further hand wringing, but by an urgent and effective response,” Ganguly said. “Concerned governments need to act instead of waiting for the next landslide to sweep away another Rohingya family.”
Source: www.bing.com
