AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Rohingya refugees living in a severely overcrowded mega camp should be relocated by the Bangladeshi government to safer areas, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.
A 68-page report by the New York-based group highlighted the dangers the Rohingya face from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season as they wait to return to their homeland in Myanmar, as well as the heightened risks of communicable diseases, fires, community tensions, and domestic and sexual violence to which the densely packed refugees are subjected.
These refugees "should have sturdier shelters and adequate education for their extended stay", said the report titled, Bangladesh Is Not My Country: The Plight of Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar.
It called on Bangladeshi authorities to transfer the Rohingya to smaller, less-congested camps on flatter, proximate land in the same Ukhiya sub-district where the mega camp is located.
Since August last year, more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled across the border from Rakhine State in Myanmar, after the army waged a brutal crackdown against the Muslim minority.
An estimated 626,000 Rohingya - from last year's and past displacements - are now living in the Kutapalong-Balukhali camp, making it the largest refugee camp in the world.
It is severely overcrowded, the report said, with the average usable space at 10.7sq metres a person, far below the recommended international standard of 45sq metres for each individual.
The UN's refugee agency estimates 200,000 Rohingya are at risk of floods and landslides.
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source : Al Jazeera
Monday
6 August 2018
12:59:57 PM
904455
Rohingya refugees living in a severely overcrowded mega camp should be relocated by the Bangladeshi government to safer areas, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.