More than two years ago (25 August 2017), the world witnessed one of the largest forced displacements of recent times. Currently, about 911,566 Rohingya refugees are living in spontaneous settlements in Cox’s Bazar. They remain largely dependent on essential humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. Over this period the Government of Bangladesh, UN agencies and I/LNGOs have supported the crisis affected Rohingya community, but the response is critically underfunded. In the beginning, the local community assisted the Rohingya community with essentials, but as the number of Rohingya in Bangladesh territory exceeded the capacity of the host communities, the challenges of inflated commodity prices, increased competition among locals, and refugees for income generation opportunities and depleting forest/natural resources have emerged. As the markets do not have the capacity to supply products meeting the additional demands of the 900,000 Rohingya, brokers and vendors from outside have entered the markets resulting in increased cost of daily essentials. The conflict situation has been further aggravated through the cheap labour provided by some members of the Rohingya community decreasing the daily wage rate of the local population significantly. In addition to this, problems related to environmental degradation, including the destruction of local forests to make space for the Rohingya settlements, has been a source of tension for the host community.
Bangladesh Forum members ICCO, Christian Aid, and DanChurchAid are requesting a total of USD2 million for this Appeal. The response will support Shelter, WASH, Health services, Livelihoods, and Protection.
