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‘In all my life, I’ve not known even five minutes of peace’

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Human Wrongs Watch By Tim Gaynor in Kutupalong, Bangladesh*  

29 June 2018 (UNHCR)*Four generations of a Rohingya refugee family describe how statelessness has clouded their lives – and their hopes of returning to Myanmar.

Rohingya refugee Oli Ahmed, 53, poses for a photo in the shelter he shares with four generations of his family in Kutupalong refugee settlement, Bangladesh.  © UNHCR/Roger Arnold

Oli says the constraints placed on their community included roadblocks and a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, during which the family could not even burn a candle in their homes.

Without access to the banking system, they lived a hand-to-mouth existence. “We lived at a purely physical level, just survival. What we earned in a day was not enough to survive on,” he says.

For Oli’s wife, Ayesha Begum, 40, poverty and restrictions on free movement meant she was unable to seek health care when she was pregnant with her children.

“I had fever and headaches, but was so scared that I didn’t dare go to a hospital,” she says, sitting on the floor of the family’s bamboo shelter, beside her son-in-law Mohammad Ayub, 31.

Mohammad, who first fled to Bangladesh in 1991 as a small child, recalls yearning to contribute to civic life back home in Myanmar. “Being stateless means not being able to be a part of my country,” he says. “I couldn’t join the army, or get an education. We want to be a part of our country in every aspect, if we had the opportunity. It would give me my dignity.”

  • Rohingya refugee Ayesha Begum, 40, poses for a photo in the family’s shelter in Bangladesh. © UNHCR/Roger Arnold

Sitting with his three-year-old daughter, Kismat Ara, on his lap, he tries to take the measure of his anguish. “A day is made up of 24 hours. But I have not found even five minutes’ peace,” he says. “That’s the worst of it. From the very beginning of my life, I’ve not had even five minutes of peace.”

Beside him on the floor of the shelter sits his brother-in-law, Mohammad Siddiq, 25, who once dreamt of becoming a teacher. But with no basic rights, he was not even able to enrol as a student back home.

“We weren’t allowed to go to the official schools,” he says, noting that he had occasional home schooling during the monsoon months. “But by the time the next year came around, I had forgotten what I learned. I want to get a job, to be a teacher, to help others, but how can I? I can’t read or write. I am not hoping anymore. I’ve given up hope.”

When the family’s village came under attack in August, they had no recourse to justice. Once again, the only choice was to flee.

Oli Ahmed, 53, his mother, Gul Zahar, 90, and his son, Mohammad Siddiq, 25, pose for a photo in the family’s shelter in Bangladesh.  © UNHCR/Roger Arnold

The Bangladesh and Myanmar authorities signed an agreement concerning voluntary repatriation in November 2017. In recent months, UNHCR signed two memoranda of understanding, one with Bangladesh and one with Myanmar, setting the framework for voluntary returns in line with international standards.

But UNHCR believes the conditions are not yet conducive for their return, as the causes of their flight have not been addressed and no substantive progress has been made in addressing their exclusion or denial of rights. Without access to citizenship, most of Gul’s family will not think of returning home.

“What I know is that I won’t go back,” says Oli Ahmed. “I want my voice to be heard. I want peace to be restored and I want citizenship. Citizenship is key to everything: peace, security and education.”

“I want my voice to be heard. I want peace to be restored and I want citizenship.”

Mohammed Ayub agrees: “The first thing we need is recognition that we are Rohingya and a part of Myanmar. Then, we need full access to our rights, and then we need full restitution of all that we have lost,” he says.

“Without citizenship, I won’t go back… We’ve had enough,” he adds.

At 90, Gul feels differently, though she is grateful to Bangladesh for the safety it has given her. “I’m not willing to die here. I want to die on my soil,” she says.

*SOURCE: UNHCR. Go to ORIGINAL

2018 Human Wrongs Watch


Source: https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2018/06/30/in-all-my-life-ive-not-known-even-five-minutes-of-peace/


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