We’ve contributed to keeping them alive. It may be the best accolade, more like an acknowledgment, that the humanitarian community could say about itself at this juncture almost six and a half years after the initial crisis in northern Rakhine. There is certainly a lot of talk about so-called durable solutions, but that is primarily emanating from the Bangladesh side of the border where over 700,000+ Rohingya remain in refugee camps. For the roughly 125,000 in IDP camps in Myanmar anything durable is more aligned with enduring as opposed to rights.
It’s my first time back in northern Rakhine since 2013, which followed a visit in 2012, after the initial crisis, to take part in the first assessments and work on a protection response strategy not knowing that the situation would drag on for years. Just yesterday, in Bangladesh, Angelina Jolie mentioned speaking with Rohingya women, men, girls and boys who are universally more likely to kill themselves before being forced to return without rights to Myanmar. No different from what many Rohingya had told me in 2015 in Aceh, Indonesia who had undertook arduous journeys on rickety and overcrowded vessels in hopes of reaching Malaysia or some other friendly location: “I would rather drink petrol than return to Myanmar,” was an all-too-common refrain.
I visited camps or sites primarily just outside of Sittwe town, where many current IDPs were shopkeepers and small entrepreneurs keeping the Buddhist and Muslim Rakhinese happy with their stock of sachets of shampoo, shrimp paste and betel nut, not that long ago. The junta was the common enemy then and the Lady was only in the beginning stages of putting together her geriatric NLD leadership. She has since aligned with a monkdom who have, in turn, learned there is no better way to spread their vile and hatred than via FB. Zuck and the Lady—a dream ticket!
Many Rohingya IDPs are now dependent on the good graces of “host communities” for a small plot of land on which to exist. Some of these community members are goodhearted; many are exploiters. The land is quite often unshaded and harsh. Dusty in the dry season; flooded and muddy in the wet. Firewood is a commodity as is cow dung and essentially any dried leaf or twig. Women and girls will gladly rake the leaves around police check posts at the entrance of camps risking sexual harassment and violence—not to burn it on the spot, as most would do, but to take it home as bounty to cook the evening meal. In camps further afield, children, typically girls, will walk kilometres every day into the forest to search for whatever fire wood they can gather up. There is still very limited electricity and girls and women complain of not being able to use the toilet at night out of fear for their safety. Only last month, did the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. Mark Lowcock, in a speech on Delivering better outcomes for women and girls in Ottawa, Canada demand better protection for women and girls as the one basic initiative that must improve. He cited the lack of locks on toilets and poor and inadequate lighting as his first examples.
Camps are “governed” by committees made up, mostly, of non-camp residents so almost nothing gets done at all. Corruption is apparently rife in camp committees. New rules stipulate that committees must have at least a few female members, but most i spoke with thought this was merely a token measure.
A gaggle of civil society organisations run education and other programmes for children, but as for the former, this mostly ends by grade 4. Heartrendingly, i heard this over and over: “there is no hope after grade 4.” This is where yaba steps in--quite rampant in many camps among adolescents and youth. Or escape. Human smuggling is a business on the rise. Many Rohingya may understand that smuggling escape conductors are just as likely to be traffickers, but buried in the bleak with few if any options, it is a risk that they take time and time again.
In 2012, there was a lot of noise about international humanitarian law and the centrality of protection emanating from the humanitarian community, but there was very little unity among organisations, many of which were just setting up shop in the country. It was also a time when the world wanted to give time and space to the new government of Myanmar and, of course, Aung San Suu Kyi was out of house arrest and active again. I certainly believed that a Nobel Peace laureate would rise to the occasion. I think a lot of people did.
What NGOs feared most was losing their registration to be operational in the country if they spoke out too vehemently. As the situation ceased to be an emergency, but still very much a humanitarian crisis, organisations had to grapple with the question if it is, indeed, possible to abide by the humanitarian principle to alleviate suffering all the while understanding that the suffering of one people was brought about by the denial of rights from another. No one, of course, was just going to let the Rohingya suffer and die, but could there have not been greater unity on advocating for human rights among UN and civil society organisations? Meanwhile, the mobile phone providers came knocking and coca-cola was on the horizon.The Myanmar government knew this and knew that they would get their money one way or another.It would not be fair to lay this entirely at the feet of the multi-national corporations, but neither is it fair to tout the partnership between the private and public sector as being the great saviour. Just ask Zuck.