COVID-19 has raised the stakes in what was already an existential crisis for the Rohingya. Dangerous polices imposed by Burma against the Rohingya have only exacerbated the situation.
Executive Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a grave threat to the Rohingya community. Having fled decades of persecution by the Burmese military, the majority of Rohingya currently live in densely populated refugee camps in Bangladesh or in internal displacement camps in Rakhine State. Most are denied access to the internet, mobile phones, humanitarian aid, and sanitary conditions—all of which heighten the risk of infection and contagion. Since the emergence of the pandemic, both Myanmar and Bangladesh have come under international and domestic pressure to enact measures that would protect the Rohingya from widespread infection. While a major COVID-19 outbreak has thus far been avoided, several of the measures enforced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—including internet bans, limitations on humanitarian access, and the denial of freedom of movement—risk further exacerbating the marginalization and exclusion of the Rohingya community, and threaten the Rohingya’s health and human rights over the long term.
It is imperative that steps are taken now, both to protect the Rohingya from widespread infection and to create the conditions whereby future tragedy can be preempted. This can only be achieved through an inclusive, international response, that places the short and long-term concerns of the Rohingya community at its core. Donor states, as well as members of the UN Security Council, European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), should work urgently to:
- Launch a transformational aid response.
- Establish benchmarks for an inclusive COVID-19 response.
- Prioritize Rohingya inclusion.
- Address the root causes of Rohingya vulnerability.
This report assess the challenges confronted by the Rohingya community in Rakhine State and Cox’s Bazar and offer a set of policy recommendations designed to improve the life chances of the Rohingya community both now and in the future.