Humanitarian response to the March 22nd fire in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp
This post updated 9:00AM Wednesday EST. Humanitarian refugees gut punched by fire In the last couple years I have been honored to work with many Rohingya refugees. Countless interviews, text chats, and discussions have led to writing a series of blog posts, having one (Pan Thar) as a guest in my sociology class, and even co-authoring a poem with another (Ro Anamal Hasan). We have spent the last year trading stories and fears about the Covid-19 pandemic. These (mostly) young women and men have inspired me and challenged my understanding of what it means to witness. I heard about the fire by reading their many feverish updates on Facebook and Twitter; my heart sank. As a 12 year old I was awoken by my father in the middle of the night, our apartment aflame. We made it out, but the trauma of that night lives with me. Even with that…
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FollowA discussion with Ziaur Rahman, Rohingya activist and humanitarian
A discussion with Ziaur Rahman, Rohingya activist and humanitarian Humanitarian action As defined by Maxwell and Gelsdorf1 humanitarian action, broadly speaking, is the protection of life and dignity. Inherently multifaceted, humanitarian action includes eight overlapping realms including security, stabilization, development, sustainability, governance, and rights. Where humanitarian action overlaps with both governance and rights lies humanitarian advocacy. They argue, “Humanitarian action is is always situated in a context of global agendas, and it is often unclear where humanitarian action ends and some other kind of action begins–whether this action is more explicitly political, developmental, economic, or human rights oriented. This question also tugs at the very meaning of ‘humanitarian’- and is by no means resolved.” (p.7) I cannot agree more, and am constantly challenged by my own shifting views on the meaning of humanitarianism. I’ll readily admit to erring on the side of conflating…
Read MoreA conversation with MSF worker Muhammed Hannan in Bangladesh
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is active in Cox’s Bazar and in the US Covid-19 continues to impact all our lives, unevenly so, with those historically on the margins being hit the worse. Many who live in poverty are often forced to make a choice between working wherever they are able and thus risking infection or isolating, staying safe from the virus only to face starvation. MSF, active in nations around the world, has been responding to the coronavirus health needs of millions, including those affected in the United States. Talking with Hannan in Bangladesh Muhammed Hannan and I have talked many times over the last year or so, mostly about the MSF response to COVID-19 in Bangladesh where he works as a Personnel Administration Manager for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).1 Based in the capital city of Dhaka, Hannan lives with his family. Thankfully, he and his family have remained free of the…
Read MoreMore Rohingya being moved to Bhashan Char is a win for national sovereignty
“Homo homini lupus [man is wolf to man]. Who in the face of all his experience of life and of history, will have the courage to dispute this assertion?“ –Sigmund Freud Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) More Rohingya being moved to Bhashan Char is a win for national sovereignty More Rohingya being relocated Less than a month ago I wrote about the move of over 1600 Rohingya refugees being ‘voluntarily’ relocated from Cox’s Bazar to the small island of Bhashan Char. As I write this a second wave of 1,804 Rohingya have been transported to the island by the Bangladeshi navy. I put ‘voluntarily’ in quotations because there is reason to question how these families were chosen for the move. The UNHCR has not been given access to key details about the move but has urged the Bangladeshi government to not relocate any refugees against their will. Despite statements and pleas…
Read MoreViolating the humanitarian space in Ethiopia
“Humanitarian organizations are not free from politics.” -Samual Lemma, humanitarian Violating the humanitarian space in Ethiopia #notatarget National humanitarians killed The recent violence in Ethiopia has led to the death of four humanitarians, three working with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and one for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). UN staff have been targeted as they attempted to reach those in need of humanitarian assistance in the hotly contested Tigray region. Cell phone and wifi access has been limited since November 4th when these services were cut off by the central government. Ethiopian leadership, based in the capital Addis Ababa, is pushing the narrative that this is an internal matter. The leaders are providing limited cooperation with both UN and INGO organizations. This conflict has generated many IDPs and refugees, and among those impacted are Eritrean refugees in Tigray Regional State. The UN and the Agency for Refugee and Returnee…
Read MoreQuestions about the relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char Island
See 29 December 2020 update on this post here. “We aren’t born to float and drown/Nor to be refugees …” -Ro Anamul Hasan, from his poem The Dead Island Humanitarian questions about the relocation of Rohingya to Bhashan Char Island In their own words This report by Amnesty International, LET US SPEAK FOR OUR RIGHTS: HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES IN BANGLADESH provides an excellent and up to date overview of the plight facing the Rohingya. In eight sections using first person accounts from Rohingya, both women and men tell detailed and compelling stories. The section titled “This is worse than prison” gives the accounts of Rohingya who were brought to Bhashan Char in May, 2020 having been turned away by Malaysian authorities after a traumatic months long sea journey. The title of this section (“This is worse than prison”) summarizes the feelings of those already on…
Read MoreInternational Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
“Listening is very important and then understanding the messages that come out of that.” Heba, a humanitarian workers from Jordan International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women The United Nations has designated November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In this age of COVID-19, the UN calls gender based violence (GBV) the “Shadow Pandemic”. Though gender based violence is as old as humanity, change can happen through actions -big and small- at both the personal and organizational level. I have talked with humanitarians in various places around the world and each has observed this distressing pattern. As the coronavirus pandemic worsens, so does GBV. Zooming in to Kurdistan I was honored to contribute today to a Zoom conference jointly organized by the Kurdish Regional Government, the Ministry of Culture, and the Youth Department of Gender Equity. Along with one of my students, Megan…
Read MoreWorld Relief’s Jennifer Foy talks about the transition from Trump to Biden
World Relief’s Jennifer Foy talks about the transition from Trump to Biden From Trump to Biden The US Presidential race has now been called, and this means many policy changes given that ideological contrasts between Trump and Biden are deep and profound. This change in US administrations will touch most aspects of the humanitarian sector, from WHO membership, the Paris Agreements, and US support for humanitarian aid. One of my first thoughts when I began reading about the Biden administration goals regarding policies related to immigration and refugee flow into the United States was how these changes would impact the nine resettlement partner INGOs that work with the US State Department and UNHCR. Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980 the United States has admitted more than 3 million refugees. The nine resettlement organizations are responsible for the hard work of processing, placement, and settlement of all refugees…
Read MoreBringing two worlds together
Update 11-26-20 Pan Thar’s “Life tale of a Rohingyan Soul” was recently featured on Litlight. “I communicate and work with many Rohingya poets and poetesses who are writing poetry for various platforms. Our writing makes us not only feel glad but also to be proud of our activism for our community. Our pens are our guns. Our words are our bullets. Our ink is our activism.” -Pan Thar, Rohingya poet Bringing two worlds together Par Thar, Rohingya poet In the past 18 months I have been in contact with many young Rohingya men and women now living in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Most are victims of genocidal persecution from the Myanmar government and military, fleeing along with over 700,000 other Rohingya to Bangladesh in August of 2017. I have written many posts about what I have called ‘refugee humanitarians‘ and have kept up with…
Read MoreMore on the origin of the Hydra concept
On the origin of the Hydra concept I have been teaching sections of Introduction of Sociology every semester for the last four decades. Over the years every course text I’ve used has had useful chapters on ‘Race and Ethnic relations’, Social stratification’, and ‘Sex and gender.’ Through trial and error, I have adapted various definitions of the many ‘isms’, but about a 20 years ago I began using this definition of racism: Racism is an ideology of domination and subordination based on the assumption of the inherent biological and/or cultural inferiority of other groups and the use of this assumption to legitimize or rationalize the inferior or unequal treatment of this group. About ten years ago I started testing my students ability to ‘connect the dots’ by giving them the definition of racism and then immediately asking for a good definition of sexism, and then classism. Most picked up…
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