Refugee camps in Rakhine in urgent need

Narinjara News, December 13, 2022

The  SAC military regime is still blocking aid from social charities and international organizations from sending food to refugee camps in Rakhine, causing almost every camp to suffer dire shortages including lack of rice. The winter season has arrive so the IDPs are also in desperate need of warm clothes and blankets.

A person in charge of a refugee camp in Rathedaung township told Narinjara, “It’s been eight months now that no aid has arrived. We have not received any aid or food from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Resettlement, nor from any other organization. Now we are running out of food. Winter is coming and we are in great need of warm clothes and blankets. We cannot go out of the camps to work, so we are in dire situation.”

Since the fighting between the AA and the Tatmadaw (the Military Council) began in 2018, the IDP population is around 600,000 in Rakhine State. Most IDPs who have fled, have not been able to return to their homes.

The a ceasefire between the Military Council and the Arakan Army (AA) has been in effect since

November 26th, but the IDPs dare not return to their homes yet. They also feel insecure due to the continued deployment of Regime troops near their native villages.

An internally displaced person (IDP) taking refuge in Nyaung Chaung refugee camp in Kyauktaw commented, “There is no real peace agreement only an informal ceasefire. So there is no guarantee of security in the areas they will return to. Their safety is also under threat from all the landmines that have not yet been cleared.”

During the winter the weather is so the cold in Rakhine state that children and elderly people in refugee camps are shivering from the lack of blankets and warm clothes.

“Many of them are shivering with cold. There are not enough blankets and warm clothes. Donors have not been able to come to the camps for a long time. Food has become very difficult, so some are selling their personal properties. The weather has been extremely cold since yesterday. There are no government-sponsored materials in the camp. Right now, more help is needed for the elderly. Even those who are starving because of lack of work opportunities, are in the camp”, he said.

In winter, the need for warm clothes becomes massive, and refugees are worried about shortage of food too, “Not only food but also warm clothes are needed in winter”.

The workplaces outside the camp cannot create enough jobs for all the IDPs. Therefore livelihood is becoming more and more difficult.

Currently refugee camps across Rakhine state are not getting government-supplied rice, and the Military Council has banned NGOs from visiting them. That’s why the IDPs are asking for help to get re-establish access to food supplies again.