Bangladesh: IRC warns that over 850,000 Rohingya refugees are at risk if Cyclone Mocha reaches Cox’s Bazar

 

                                          Press Release

Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, May 12, 2023 — The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that Cyclone Mocha is set to strike Cox's Bazar refugee camp, home to over one million Rohingya refugees.

The cyclone's expected landfall this weekend could cause severe damage. Still reeling from a devastating fire in March that destroyed more than 2,600 shelters and critical infrastructure, over 850,000 refugees risk losing their homes and livelihoods. Strong wind, heavy rains, and subsequent flash floods and mudslides could destroy shelters, community centers, and health clinics, depriving thousands of essential services and humanitarian aid. Host communities, including Teknaf, Kutubdia, Saint Martin's Island, and nearby areas, may also be heavily affected.

In preparation, more than 3,000 Rohingya refugees have been trained to respond to flooding and mudslides. Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is scaling up its emergency response in Cox's Bazar. Three mobile medical teams will be deployed to remote areas in the camps and communities to provide emergency medical treatment. Additionally, a Mobile Protection Unit designed for emergency settings will offer protection services to vulnerable groups such as women, girls, the elderly, and those with disabilities.

New IRC analysis: Domestic partners perpetrate 94% of gender-based violence against Rohingya women in Cox’s Bazar

International  

RESCUE  

Committee

Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh,
Press Release
January 25, 2021 

Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, January 25, 2021 — New data from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reveals that 94% of Rohingya women and girls living in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, who have reported incidents of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), have experienced it at the hands of their partners.

Following the onset of COVID-19, lockdown measures were introduced in Cox’s Bazar that confined many women to their shelters, often shared with their abusers. Initial IRC data from between June - December 2019, captured before the virus took hold, indicated that 81% of women who reported GBV had experienced domestic violence. Alarmingly, new IRC analysis shows that this figure has risen to 94% between January - October 2020, as the effects of the lockdown were fully realised.

Since January 2020, screening data from IRC programming shows that an average of one in four women and girls screened at health facilities and women’s in Cox’s Bazar continue to report they are survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), consistent with the findings of IRC’s June 2020 Shadow Pandemic report. Despite the enormous new challenges women and girls face in reporting - including reductions in the availability of NGO services, limitations on refugees’ freedom of movement, and for many GBV survivors, quarantine at home with their abuser - the data shows a spike in reported rates of physical assault as compared to other types of violence that coincide with the first month of lockdown. In reality this is likely a fraction of the overall number.