2 results
Preface
- A. K. M. Ahsan Ullah, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Diotima Chattoraj, James Cook University, Singapore
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- Book:
- The Unheard Stories of the Rohingyas
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 24 January 2024
- Print publication:
- 27 July 2023, pp vii-x
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Summary
Several motivators drove us to embark on this book project, the most important of which was the existential gap between what has happened to the Rohingyas for decades and what the global media depicted. By throwing light on gross human rights violations perpetrated on the Rohingya population, international media attention could help to mobilize and shape the position of the international community. As media coverage grows, international pressures will mount to halt the causes of the Rohingya influx and launch humanitarian actions aimed at protecting the human rights of Rohingyas in Myanmar.
Centuries of human rights violations against the Rohingyas have been disregarded and bitterly ignored by the world, regional, and local media. This has freed the Myanmar authorities to commit atrocities against the Rohingyas without being challenge, question, or protest. Despite the series of Rohingya influxes since the 1970s, the international community has largely kept silent. As a result, the media cannot escape accountability for the continued crimes. This has prompted us to investigate why this has happened to them.
One prevalent criticism levelled at the media's handling of the Rohingya crisis is that the story had been overlooked until lately. The outbreak of unrest in Myanmar's Rakhine state occurred in 2016 and 2017, when a Rakhine (or Arakan) woman was raped and many Rohingya Muslims were murdered in retaliation. Following ethnic violence, around 90,000 individuals were displaced. In recent years, anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya hate speech has proliferated in Myanmar, contributing to increasing Islamophobia. The situation raged on, and it became evident that hardline Buddhist monks in Myanmar were fuelling anti-Rohingya (and anti-Muslim) prejudice and hatred. In the midst of this violence, Time Magazine decided to draw attention to this Buddhist-fuelled anti-Muslim animosity by featuring Ashin Wirathu on its July 2013 cover. Wirathu, known as the ‘Buddhist Bin Laden’, is one of Myanmar's most outspoken Buddhist leaders, asking for the annihilation of all Rohingyas in Myanmar.
Before embarking on this project, we read hundreds of stories, columns, and books about the Rohingyas’ history and their days of sorrow in their own land, which prompted us to take on such a project. As we continued to consider writing, we began to approach respected publishers who might also be interested.
Fifteen - The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Travails of Rohingya Refugees in the Largest Bangladeshi Refugee Camp
- Edited by Brian Doucet, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Rianne van Melik, Pierre Filion, University of Waterloo, Ontario
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- Book:
- Volume 1: Community and Society
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 13 April 2023
- Print publication:
- 22 July 2021, pp 165-174
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Summary
Introduction
COVID-19 has been labeled a ‘pandemic’, which turned out to be one of the most terrifying diseases causing an impending crisis the world has not witnessed in the recent era (Chattoraj, 2021). Before the development of successful vaccines, the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations such as quarantining, wearing masks, self-isolating, maintaining social distance, and lockdown were the only measures available to combat COVID-19 (Ullah et al, 2021). However, these are not always feasible for all communities (see Lemanski and de Groot, Chapter Ten); for the refugees living in small and overcrowded tiny shacks that are found in refugee camps, a major challenge lies in maintaining social distance and lockdown measures. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who were forced out of the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar in the face of brutal persecution, rapes, and killings are no exception (Ullah and Chattoraj, 2018).
There are an estimated 1.2 million Rohingya refugees staying in 34 camps (Bhuyian, 2021) outside Cox's Bazar, a district of southeast Bangladesh (Ullah and Chattoraj, 2021). They face a heightened risk of COVID-19 owing to poor, cramped conditions and densely populated camps. They lack access to adequate health care, shelter, water, and sanitation, which pose major challenges in their efforts to protect themselves from the virus. Therefore, the main objective of this chapter is to provide details about these challenges, and the experiences of the Rohingyas in these refugee camps due to the sudden emergence of the pandemic.
During the initial phases of the outbreak, health experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that if the virus reached the world's largest refugee camp, it would spread like wildfire and Bangladesh might become devastated by COVID-19 due to the arrangements of camp settlements. The population density in the Rohingya camp is more than 100,000 people per square mile and sanitation options are scarce. Groceries, kiosks, health centers, and schools are all located within the camps, making congestion worse (Ullah et al, 2020). These camps are overcrowded as many families have more than ten members living in one room. Severely substandard health care and inadequate access to proper sanitation have made them incredibly vulnerable to this virus.
The context
The virus first hit the Rohingya camp in Bangladesh in March 2020. By April, 2021, around 507 Rohingyas had tested positive, eleven of whom had died (Sakib, 2021).