Fire highlights need for Bangladesh to integrate Rohingya

Some 3,500 Rohingya refugees in Nayapara camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, lost their shelter in a fire last week. Thankfully, no one died and the fire was put out relatively quickly by firefighters, who were helped by volunteers and the refugees themselves. But this kind of accident is not surprising. The cheap, quick-to-build, poor-quality shelters constructed for, or in some cases by, refugees will never be properly safe for long-term habitation. Putting a roof over people’s heads as quickly as possible generally outweighs safety considerations when you have hundreds of thousands of people fleeing a war zone, as was the case with the Rohingya influx into Cox’s Bazar.

But, once built, this infrastructure is much more difficult to upgrade, to say nothing of the expense, so most refugees in Cox’s Bazar find themselves effectively stuck in these conditions. This is not least because of their limited means to work to improve their housing conditions themselves due to the lack of employment or other economic opportunities in the camps. These conditions are simply not sustainable for the long term and something has to change.

It should also be apparent that Bangladesh does not have the means to go into the camps and build up the housing infrastructure to a safe level. And whatever resources do exist there, both courtesy of the government of Bangladesh and from the international community, are rightly prioritized for things such as healthcare and education services.

So the easiest, and indeed fairest, way to address these issues is for Bangladesh to open up its economy and society to access by the refugees. Most Rohingya would be very eager to earn their keep in Cox’s Bazar and there are few economic reasons why this willing and able body of workers should not be allowed to participate in the Bangladeshi economy and that of the broader region.

Yes, this may pose short-term political challenges for the government in Dhaka, and poor Bangladeshi locals might at first feel that economic opportunities afforded to the refugees are economic opportunities that are being taken away from them. We know that this is never how economic activity works but, politically, this is a tricky issue that will need to be handled with due care. But that is not to say it should not be done.

Originally, the reticence of Dhaka to allow the Rohingya to engage in the economy was predicated on the notion that the refugee situation was temporary, and that the Rohingya would return to Myanmar in a reasonably short time frame. Now, however, even the most optimistic of the Bangladeshi authorities seem to have acknowledged the reality that Myanmar has no intention of allowing the Rohingya back, and indeed will continue to push them out if they do try to return.

Consequently, there must be an acknowledgement that the only way to handle the refugee crisis in a sustainable fashion is to allow for the refugees themselves to participate fully in their own upkeep by opening up access to the economy. This would be a win-win for everyone. The economy of Bangladesh would grow overall, the local Bangladeshi communities around the refugee camps and even farther afield would benefit from the economic opportunities opened up by employing Rohingyas or trading with the Rohingya communities, and the current dependence of the Rohingya communities on government funding would steadily ease, as they would be increasingly able to provide for themselves.

If managed well, in due time, these communities could become net contributors to the public purse, at the same time as they will be building their own infrastructure in their communities in Cox’s Bazar, their own safe housing, their own health facilities, and their own educational facilities. The refugee camps can become proper, successful towns. They only need to be allowed to do so.

• Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is a Director at the Center for Global Policy and author of “The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Genocide” (Hurst, 2017). Twitter: @AzeemIbrahim