Cox’s Bazar: Life Inside World’s Largest Refugee Camp

Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh is home to the world’s largest refugee camp, housing approximately 1.3 million Rohingya people whose lives remain suspended between a violent past and an uncertain future, as humanitarian organizations warn of a worsening crisis.

Rohingya Crisis in Cox’s Bazar

Nur Haba carefully unwraps a small bundle of keepsakes in a makeshift bamboo shelter in the hills of Cox’s Bazar, revealing a photograph of her mother, Mariam, who was 44 years old when she was shot and killed in Myanmar in 2017.

Nur recounts how her home in Rakhine State was set on fire by the military, forcing her family to flee. During the escape, her two-year-old son, Mohammed, was swept away by a river and drowned.

The Rohingya community has been described by the United Nations as the “most persecuted minority in the world.” Denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982, they have faced decades of discrimination and repression.

The latest wave of violence began in 2017, when the Myanmar military, supported by local Buddhist mobs, attacked the predominantly Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State. UN human rights experts labeled the campaign as a “textbook case of ethnic cleansing,” resulting in more than a million people fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.

Overcrowding and Challenges in the Camps

One of the major challenges in Cox’s Bazar is overcrowding, with 1.3 million people living in cramped and unsanitary conditions. The population density is 45,000 people per square kilometer, compared to 73 people per square kilometer in Ireland.

Overcrowding contributes to the rapid spread of disease and infections, including outbreaks of cholera, dengue fever, and severe diarrhea over the past year.

The Rohingya are also vulnerable to extreme weather events. UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the camps are “on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” facing scorching summers, increased fire risk, and destruction from floods and landslides during cyclone and monsoon seasons.

Aziz Ullah, a 23-year-old refugee who fled Myanmar in 2017, described the difficulties of accessing fresh water during hot seasons, the lack of warm clothes in winter, and the threat of landslides and flooding during the rainy season. He expressed a bleak outlook for the younger generation, stating, “the future is absolutely dark.”

Protection Risks and Continued Influx

The Rohingya are prohibited from working outside the camp or moving freely, making them entirely dependent on humanitarian aid – including food, water, shelter, and health services. This dependence creates “huge potential for protection risk,” according to Manish Kumar Agrawal of Concern Worldwide.

Reports of kidnappings, gang violence, armed clashes, and sexual exploitation within the camp have increased in recent years.

The influx of Rohingya continues as fighting persists in Myanmar, with an estimated 150,000 arriving in the past year, further straining aid and resources in Cox’s Bazar.

Bangladesh has warned that its capacity to support the Rohingya is reaching its limits, with a government official stating the goal is to repatriate them to Myanmar, though acknowledging that mass repatriation is currently unlikely due to the security situation.

For the Rohingya, life remains on hold, trapped in the world’s largest refugee camp and increasingly invisible to the world.