CIARAN’S HUMANITARIAN MISSION
WEXFORD MAN CIARAN BREEN IS WORKING FOR OXFAM IN BANGLADESH AS A POLICY ADVISOR ON THE ROHINGYA REFUGEE CRISIS. HE TELLS REPORTER PADRAIG BYRNE ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF THE REFUGEES AND THE HUGE DAILY CHALLENGES FACED IN CAMPS STRUGGLING TO ACCOMMODATE OVER HA
THE plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is probably not something which invades the thoughts of your average person in Bunclody with any regularity. In fact the sleepy town at the foot of Mount Leinster is world’s apart, figuratively and geographically from the huge sprawling refugee camps which exist on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
A Bunclody man, however, is currently in Bangladesh and in the thick of what is being described as one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory. Ciaran Breen was born and reared in Bunclody. Having finished school he became a fully qualified architect, working from Enniscorthy, before he decided to change his path completely in 2009.
‘I decided I wanted to take a broader scope,’ he said, speak- ing from an Oxfam base in Bangladesh. ‘I decided I wanted to look at how things impact on society and I did an MA in the London School of Economics.
‘Through this I looked at developing countries and how cities operate in developing countries. This led me onto humanitarian work and that’s what I’ve been doing since. I’m currently in Bangladesh as a policy advisor on the Rohingya Refugee Crisis.’
Gaining publicity in Ireland from protests and public showings of solidarity from the likes of Bob Geldof and U2, the crisis has its roots in Myanmar.
In the South East Asian country, the Rohingya people are afforded almost no rights. They are not afforded citizenship of Myanmar. They are not allowed to hold land. They are not granted access to any meaningful form of healthcare. They are considered completely stateless.
Things escalated in August when a militant group of Rohingya attacked police and army posts in Myanmar in protest of the treatment of their people. Retribution was swift and brutal. Military forces began a horrific campaign against the Rohingya, resulting in reports of murder, rape and the burning of villages, stories of which arrived on the lips of the youngest children presenting at the Bangladeshi border in search of shelter. Over 600,000 people have fled across the border from Myanmar and have been graciously taken in by the Bangladeshi government, who Ciaran says are doing everything they can to help the plight of these poor people.
‘Kids are arriving at the camps here extremely malnour- ished and having experienced extreme violence,’ said Ciaran, who arrived in Bangladesh in December.
‘These people are very traumatised and what we at Oxfam are trying to do is, not only take care of their immediate needs such as food, water and medical attention, but to try and improve conditions within the camps and get them some kind of psychological support.
‘These people are very traumatised. Many of them have seen loved ones die. There are cases where children have seen their parents murdered in front of them.
‘Obviously at the moment, the priority is keeping people alive, but that is why we need to keep the pressure on in terms of getting financial aid.’
In terms of conditions, while it may be better than living in complete fear of the brutal rape and murder that is being meted out across the border, the Rohingya are living in quite difficult circumstances in these huge Bangladeshi refugee camps.
‘These camps exist in a space that is probably the size of County Wexford,’ said Ciaran. ‘There are several camps, the largest of which is probably about 3,000 acres. They exist on extremely hilly terrain and the area is prone to a lot of rain, which leads to extremely bad conditions inside the camps.
‘It’s extremely cramped, with over half a million people living inside. At the moment we’re trying to get these people basic medical attention, clean water and simple food such as rice, but there is a great need to introduce a more varied diet and attempt to install things like lighting into the camps.’
‘In the camps there are a number of problems related to the stress these people have suffered in Myanmar,’ he continued. ‘The conditions really don’t help. These people are living on top of one another. They can’t earn a living or go anywhere and they develop negative coping mechanisms. In the camps we have problems with things like women using sex as a mechanism for obtaining food. There have also been instances of sexual violence against women.’
While conditions in the camps are appalling and the situation that these people are fleeing is worse still, Ciaran says that the refugees are proving resilient at the same time.
‘One thing is striking visiting the camps,’ he said. ‘For the most part, people are in good
spirits to some degree. There’s not the sense of tension you might imagine. People are coping reasonably well and are not protesting or anything like that. These people are extremely dependent on the solidarity of the international community.
‘While the numbers of people arriving across the border have decreased from thousands every week to just 215 at the start of this week, the population in these camps is still growing and the provision of aid was already well below what is needed.’
To make matters worse, it seems that the climate is about to play a big factor over the coming months.
‘This area is extremely vulnerable to cyclones,’ Ciaran explained. ‘The cyclone season kicks off in April and it’ll bring rain and high winds. This brings a huge risk for loss of life as the shelters in the camps are extremely basic. We need to make the terrain safe before this happens.’
However terrifying this situation would prove for adults, there are numerous reports of young children being left to their own devices within the refugee camps.
‘Oxfam is currently working on this situation at the moment too,’ said Ciaran. ‘A lot of children do arrive at the camps, some of whom have witnessed outrageous violence and seen their parents murdered in front of them.
‘Then you also have children who have become separated from their parents in the crowd. The local community in Bangladesh has been very good, acting as first responders and providing support for these kids who are on their own. There is a need for further support and we are trying to work with the government in Bangladesh to get these children some help from local families or better again, ensure they are given foster care. Once again, this is another reason why sustained financial support is needed.’
While the numbers of people presenting at the border seem to have decreased in recent weeks, the end of this problem is still far from sight. It’s estimated that there will be 48,000 births in these refugee camps in the coming year. That will be another 48,000 stateless people to add to the 655,000 already in the camps.
‘I think that’s one of the crazy things about all of this,’ said Ciaran.
‘These births won’t be registered. These people won’t have the ability to apply for passports. The won’t have access to education. They are completely on the margins of the nation state system.’
Ciaran is to continue his work in Bangladesh until February, when he will return to his home in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he is based when he is not away engaging in humanitarian work.
While he hopes for a marked improvement in the situation by then, it is uncertain - just as the future for the some 600,000 people in these camps is completely uncertain as international pressure mounts on Myanmar to enforce recommendations made by the UN in relation to the recognition and rights of the Rohingya people.