Médecins Sans Frontières - REPORT: two years of exile for Rohingya refugees (EN)

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF280866

Date taken / Date Recorded 15/06/2019 12:00 AM

Country Bangladesh

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Photographer / videographer / producer Mohammad Ghannam

Copyright Mohammad Ghannam/MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 3m13s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 320.86 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist In 2017 at the height of the Rohingya refugee crisis,
Abdul Salam escaped Myanmar

The then 15-year-old made his way to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh
after seeing his entire family massacred

We’re not ready to go back because our parents, siblings and relatives were killed.
We don't want to suffer this again.

Two years later, Abdul Salam lives alone in a refugee camp

I wish I could get married now, but I have no money.
I’ve been alone in Bangladesh for two years. I eat alone.
Once I’ve earned some money, I’ll get married and my life will improve.
I lost everything I had in Myanmar – my belongings, my family.
I couldn’t bring anything with me.
I can’t go to a regular school right now, only to a religious school, which is free.
Sometimes I get work here and there to make a living.
We won’t go back to Myanmar until we are given our rights and our citizenship.

Mohammad Anwar, 29, was a high school teacher in Myanmar

Mohammad Anwar
Teacher

Every day when we wake up I am thinking that
here is no access to education, no good healthcare.
We have no purpose, we have no chance in this refugee camp.
Nobody allows us to learn,
to open a school with the curriculum,
with formal education.
We want to go to our home, to return back with dignity, safety and security,
with our fundamental rights, basic human rights fulfilled.

Currently, nearly one million Rohingya refugees are living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar

Shafiqual Islam
MSF outreach medical assistant

Their living conditions make them vulnerable. In extreme heat, the tarpaulin becomes very hot so it becomes difficult for them to stay indoors and they have no electricity.
They are spending their lives facing very difficult situations.
Their shelters are made of bamboo, tarpaulin and rope. During the monsoon, it’s likely they’ll be destroyed.

Poor living conditions and diseases make daily life
a struggle for refugees in the camps

Between August 2017 and June 2019, MSF teams have provided more than 1,3 million medical consultations