難民對東道國的影響 : 羅辛亞族人在孟加拉的情況 - 政大學術集成

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(1)International Master’s Program in International Studies National Chengchi University. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Refugees Impact on Their Host Countries: 政治大 in Bangladesh The Case of the Rohingya 立 :. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Student: Colby Berry Advisor: Dr. Yeh-Chung Lu. July, 2018. I. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(2) Abstract This study aims as exposing the impacts of the Rohingya refugees on Bangladesh their host country, emanating from the country of Myanmar. The case for the Myanmar refugee crisis has been of an ongoing nature lasting more than 35 years when the Rohingya people were denied citizenship within Myanmar. This denial started the long conflict between the predominately Buddhist ethnicity country of Myanmar, and the Rohingya people, who are predominately a Muslim ethnic minority group. This conflict is one of religious oppression from the Buddhist to the Muslim minority. These impacts can be social, economic, environmental, political and security. This paper has succeeded in proving both positive and negative impacts in social,. 政治大. economic, environmental, and political, 立 however, it has not been able to prove positive impacts. ‧ 國. 學. in the security realm. Concluding, that positive impacts can be witnessed in the case of. ‧. Bangladesh, and possible other similar cases to Bangladesh.. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. Key words: Rohingya, Bangladesh, Impacts, Positive Impacts, Negative Impacts. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. II. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(3) 5. 3:. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. III. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(4) Table of Contents. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Chapter 1- Introduction and Motivation ......................................... 1 1.1Brief Background of Myanmar ...................................................... 5 1.2 Definitions and Key Concepts ....................................................... 8 1.3 Literature Review ........................................................................ 11 1.4 Research Method ......................................................................... 21 1.5 Research Limitations ................................................................... 23 1.6 Organization of Thesis Chapters ................................................. 23 Chapter 2- Socio-Economic Impacts of the Rohingya ................... 24 2.1 Bangladesh’s General Public's View on the Rohingya ............... 24 2.2 Bangladesh Policy on Refugees .................................................. 25 2.3 Economic Impacts of Refugees .................................................. 28 治政......................................................... 2.4 Social Impacts of Refugees 35 大立 2.5 Summary ..................................................................................... 43 Chapter 3- Impacts on Bangladesh’s Environment ....................... 45 3.1 Bangladesh’s Protection of the Environment ............................. 45 3.2 The Rohingya Impact on Bangladesh's Environment ................. 49 3.3 Positive Effects on the Environment........................................... 59 3.4 Summary ..................................................................................... 60 Chapter 4- Political and Security Impacts on al v Bangladesh ............ 62 i n Ch 4.1 Political Impacts.......................................................................... 62 engchi U 4.2 Security Impacts.......................................................................... 67 4.3 Summary ..................................................................................... 70 Chapter 5- Conclusion ...................................................................... 72 References .......................................................................................... 77 n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. IV. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(5) List of Tables and Figures. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Table 2.1 Findings on Repatriation Time and Cost of Hosting Rohingya, Center for Policy Dialogue 2018 ...................................................... 32 Table 3.1 Livelihood Activities of Rohingya Households in the Study Area, Khan, Uddin & Hague 2012.................................................... 53 Figure 2.1 Rehabilitation work for Rohingya going on in full swing in Bhashan Char, Dhaka Tribune, 2018 ................................................ 30 Figure 2.2 Human Response Plan September 2017 to February 2018, OCHA 2017 ...................................................................................... 31 Figure 3.1 Map of the Protected areas of Bangladesh, Chowdhury, & Koike, 2010 ....................................................................................... 45 Figure 3.2 Map of Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Khan, Uddin, Sayed, 政治大 Haque, 2012 ...................................................................................... 49 立 Figure 3.3 Dependency Rate of Rohingya refuges on TWS, Khan, Uddin & Hague, 2012 .................................................................................. 51 Figure 3.4 Illegal Collection Types, The Case of Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary, Khan, Uddin, Sayed, Haque 2012 ................................... 55. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. V. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(6) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Lu, Yeh Chung of the National Chengchi University, whose support and guidance along the way have made this thesis possible. Always having great advice and helpful comments to aid my writing, has been a great help to me in writing. Second, I would like to thank my committee members whose thoughtful comments and suggestions has helped me to better my thesis and its direction, without their time and effort I would not have been able to produce this thesis. 政. 治. 大立 Third, I would like to thank the Republic of China’s Ministry of Education, without their ‧ 國. 學. generous scholarship program, I would not have been able to stay focused and in good health.. ‧. This allowed me to travel and experience all of Taiwan’s beauty.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Finally, I would like to thank my family: my wife and son whose encouragement and. n. love helped me stay focused and motivated throughout my ithesis and Master’s studies. Thank a v. l C hengchi Un you for not being upset with me for not spending as much time with you, as I did with my thesis.. VI. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(7) List of Abbreviations AL: Awami League government BNP: Bangladesh Nationalist Party FD: Forests Department GoB: Government of Bangladesh NGO: Non-Governmental Organization PA: Protected Areas. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. ‧. Nat. y. UN: United Nations. 學. TWS: Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary. n. al. er. io. sit. UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ch. engchi. i Un. v. VII. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(8) Chapter 1- Introduction and Motivation The issue of international and internal refugees has become a major problem for the world in recent years; even though wars between countries have been seen to be declining, the number of refugees has been increasing. In the year 2015, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) released their article called Global Trends: Forced Displacement; this article quoted a shockingly high number of forcibly displaced people, 65.3 million individuals, who were labeled either as a refugee or in a refugee-like situation (UNHCR, 2015). Back in 1997, the UNHCR published an article about the social and economic impact of refugees, kicking off discussions of the impacts that refugees can have on their host countries. This article was one of the first to. 政治大 highlight to the world the importance 立 of refugees, and that if not handled properly, refugees ‧ 國. 學. taken in by a country could have large, disastrous impacts on the host country. These impacts in. ‧. the UNHCR’s article were seen to be predominantly negative. At that moment in time studies. er. io. sit. y. Nat. about refugees were not very plentiful and the impacts of hosting refugees were widely unknown.. al. n. iv n C Not until later did the researchers discover impacts that refugees may have h e n g the i U c h additional on their host countries that were not negative, but were positive. Positive and negative impacts can range from economic and environmental, to social and security impacts. The types of situations that are occurring, which cause conditions that force and displace people out of a certain country and into another country, have existed even before the modern representation of displaced people or refugees. Examples of refugees’ date back to 1685 when Protestant Huguenots fled persecution by the king of France at that time Louis XIV, even going back further to 740 BC when tribes of Israel were expelled from the lands they lived in. However, the term that explicitly addressed the issue of internally or externally displaced people did not come. 1. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(9) along until around World War I, when the then predecessor of the United Nations, the League of Nations, in 1921 created a commission called the High Commission for Refugees. This commission was designed to tackle the influx of displaced people. That commission would create the body and organization to manifest a reason to study and help refugees move from their current conditions in their home countries to better and safer conditions in their host countries.. The formulation of the term for displaced people, called ‘refugees’, would later create a research field that would study the reasons for refugees to flee their current situations in hopes of finding peace and stability in another foreign country other than their own. After the field was. 政治. 大field would extend and develop into created to study the reasons present that create refugees, the. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. one that would include how refugees impact their host countries.. sit. y. Nat. The history of refugees relations with the host countries is a complicated one, not aided. er. io. by the lack of well-established universal immigration policies that administer the intake of. n. a. v. l C policies can predominantly refugees into their host countries. These be limited to the highly ni. hengchi U. developed nations, with their high GDP and high infrastructure these countries have created specific immigration policies for their countries to follow. However, developing nations in contrast often do not have much if any at all immigration policies for refugees seeking to find refuge in their countries. Therefore, because there is a lack of policies that have been established within developing nations these refugees are most of the time placed into a sort of limbo situation within their host countries.. 2. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(10) Most developing countries, unless they are confronted with large substantial amounts of refugees in a short period of time, will tend to administer the intake of refugees as they have always administered taking in displaced persons. However, just as each country is different, each case for a displaced person or refugee is different. Therefore, because each case is different, each case should have its very own immigration policies. If this had been the case in many developing countries, then when the time came to take in refugees, the developing countries would be ready with a tailored plan to administer the intake of said refugees. Cases, such as a civil war in a country, may result in producing refugees that have militant objectives and mindsets; because of these objectives and mindsets, these refugees require a different type of process and procedure for their intake.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. In contrast, if a group of people is the victim of violence, such as a genocide from another. ‧. sit. y. Nat. ethnic group or their government, then this case would be much different compared to the civil. er. io. war case. Due to the differences in this victim case, it would need a less stringent vetting. n. a. v. l C movement towards procedure and process. The first monumental n i making a substantive change in. hengchi U. refugee protection and governance was the 1951 Refugee Convention. This convention was ratified by, 145 state parties, and made some groundbreaking changes. They defined the term ‘refugee’, incorporated the rights of displaced persons, and finally discussed States obligations that they have to protect these displaced persons or refugees from the situations that they were escaping (UNHR, n.d.). Obligating the states to protect refugees no matter their race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion (Lucke, 2017). When this thesis’s aim is presented, the importance of this will be further revealed. In addition, the 1951 Geneva Convention also incorporated details that attempted to lift some burdens that may fall on countries taking in. 3. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(11) refugees that may not have the means to do so fully themselves. These countries may not be able to provide the life-sustaining basic needs of the refugees. The Geneva Convention was also meant to address the role other states should play in working together with these extremely burdened countries, to relieve some burdens placed on them (Lucke, 2017).. The author’s motivation for producing this thesis, as well as his desire to study the impacts of the refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh, is due to the importance of this refugee case and its long standing continuation, which has heightened tensions between both Myanmar and Bangladesh. In 2017, within a short timeframe, large numbers of refugees flooded into. 政治. 大 both countries, and the rest of the Bangladesh from Myanmar, causing large disturbances within. 立. ‧ 國. 學. world. The shock from the sheer scale of people migration, caused the rest of the world to take notice of this conflict between the government and people of Myanmar, against the Rohingya. ‧ er. io. sit. y. Nat. ethnic and religious group.. n. a. v. l C to the conflict involving Furthermore, the added attention the Rohingya people also ni. hengchi U. caused the world and aid organizations in whole to look at some impacts that these large population migrations of refugees can have, not only on countries in whole, but more specifically the developing nation in which the infrastructure may, or may not be as developed as per se a developed country. The majority of the research and studies, which have taken place after the article published by the UNHCR, have been centered on the economic and security impacts of the host country. It’s not hard to see why this is the case, with the majority of the host countries who are absorbing the majority of refugees, being developing countries. Because of this, money and security are very important issues. Nevertheless, it should be equally significant to study. 4. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(12) other effects that refugees have on their host countries, such as environmental degradation effects, political instability that bringing refugees into a country can cause, and the social relationships between the new refugees and the local population of their hosting country. This thesis and study are being produced in response to this large gap in the literature.. This thesis’s focus will be on the socio-economic, and environmental impacts of the refugees on their host country. This does not mean, however, that this will avoid or not include important information about other critical impacts of the refugees on the host countries; those other impacts could be the political and security impacts mentioned above. This lack of. 政治. 大as the target nations, of study for the literature which specifically singles out developing nations. 立. ‧ 國. 學. impacts that refugees can have on their host countries is what drives the need for this study to be produced. This thesis can fill this gap in refugee impact studies, adding the case study of the. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Rohingya to the countless other empirical studies. Contributing to scholars looking at specific. er. io. impacts that world events can have on developing nations in contrast to their developed. n. a. v. counterparts. As we all well know, thel developing and developed nations have large differences; ni C. hengchi U. some being the infrastructure and economy, and formal refugee intake procedures and policies necessary to better deal with a large intake of refugees or people migration.. 1.1 Brief Background of Myanmar. Myanmar has had a complicated past filled with tales of colonization and war. The British first colonized the lower part of Myanmar after the Anglo-Burmese war that took place in 1824. In 1885 Britain would later complete the process of consolidating their colonization with the 5. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(13) absorption of the capital of Myanmar, Mandalay, thus making it a part of British India. This would last from 1885 to 1937 when Britain separated Myanmar from its other former colony, India; establishing Myanmar as a ‘crown colony’ of the British Empire. However, this newly appointed status given to Myanmar would not last long. During WWII, Japan invaded Myanmar and occupied the country, changing it from British rule into Japanese rule. After the end of WWII, however, the British would liberate Myanmar from the hands of the Japanese, allowing them to become an independent country in 1948 (BBC, 2018).. After Myanmar eventually gained their independence in 1962, they would declare. 政治. 大government of Myanmar created an Buddhism as the state religion of Myanmar. In 1982, the. 立. ‧ 國. 學. immigration policy that would place the Rohingya into the status of an illegal immigrant. The reasoning behind this is that they were considered a migrant because they came to Myanmar. ‧. sit. y. Nat. during the rule of the British. Two years after this change of status, the Rohingya, who were. er. io. from Myanmar, started their movement into Bangladesh, to escape the start of oppression from. n. a. v. l Cthe number of Rohingya the government. After only a few years, who had already crossed the ni. hengchi U. border in Bangladesh was 30,000, however, in 1991, the number rose to more than 250,000 following more oppression (Al-Mahmood, 2016). This oppression, at that time and still to today, has largely been felt in the state of Rakhine where the majority of the Rohingya reside.. Despite the Burmese and Rohingya refugees escape from persecution in Myanmar, the refugees did not find sanctuary in Bangladesh. They had been considered illegal immigrants in Bangladesh as well, thus being left as a stateless group of people, not wanted in either country. Each time they have immigrated to Bangladesh, they have been repatriated back to their. 6. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(14) oppressor, Myanmar. In 1992, only one year after 250,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, most of them were returned to Myanmar to endure further persecution (Al-Mahmood, 2016). This brings us to the present, where more than 600,000 Rohingya have once again fled persecution and violence in Myanmar, for the hopes of refuge in Bangladesh (Lone, 2017). This brings the number up to an estimated total of more than one million.. The conditions that these refugees must live in is shocking to think about; in Myanmar, they are forced to remain within the state of Rakhine, while in Bangladesh, they are forced to remain in the Cox’s Bazar region, near the border of Myanmar. With regard to Myanmar, the. 政治. 大 in 2015 (Asian Correspondent, total refugee and people in refugee-like-situations were 451,800. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 2017). After the mass migration kicked into gear, the percentage of the population of the country that is being directly affected by this crisis is estimated at around 0.8% of Myanmar. This was in. ‧. sit. y. Nat. the year 2015, however, in 2017 another great crisis occurred within Myanmar, forcing over to. er. io. 600,000 Rohingya to flee to their neighboring country of Bangladesh (Lone, 2017). Every year,. n. a. v. l C and having immense this crisis seems to be expanding in nature n i impacts, not only on Myanmar. hengchi U. and Bangladesh but on the entire world. The Rohingya are now being taken in by numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, and others.. 1.1.1 Research Questions and Hypotheses After explaining the need for this thesis, the author has chosen the scope of this research thesis. This thesis’s scope will be directed at the study of refugee impacts on their host country of Bangladesh, as the scope is broad the number of questions that this thesis will hope to answer. 7. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(15) will be few. The direction of this thesis’s research will be focused on the macro level: the interactions between the incoming refugees and the local people, and state as a whole. There are two questions that this thesis will hope to answer, listed below:. 1. What specific areas the Rohingya refugees have impacted in their host country of Bangladesh? 2. Why the refugees are having these various impacts on their host country of Bangladesh?. Initial Observations: 1. Refugees in these cases will have political, social, economic, security and environmental impacts.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 2. These positive and negative impacts have occurred because of the lack of preparation from the host countries and the international community, the lack of attention and heed. sit. y. ‧. Nat. from the hosting countries, as well as a lack in resources.. er. io. 3. They will continue to get worse unless addressed in the form of more domestic and. n. a. v. i international refugee policiesl as cooperation working C well as more n international alongside the hosting country.. hengchi U. 1.2 Definitions and Key Concepts 1.2.1 Refugee For the purposes of this thesis, the term refugee will be defined as, “those who are fleeing any form of persecution, including ethnic cleansing, genocide, repression, and civil war,” which is taken from Navine (Navine, 2010, p. 13). Refugees in this paper do not have a choice to leave their home country, instead they are forced to leave once the situation in their home country threatens their life and the life of their family. 8. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(16) 1.2.2 Economic Impacts For the purpose of this thesis, the term economic impact will be defined as a countries ability to be profitable, in sustaining their trade, industry, and further creation of wealth. Economic gains or loses can be attributed to the new refugees in different ways, these gains and losses can improve or strain other areas of the off the refugee and host populations lives. The economic impacts from the refugees may be seen as both traditional and nontraditional in nature or direct and indirect impacts. In addition to being of a traditional or nontraditional nature, the impacts may be either positive or negative impacts.. 1.2.3 Political Impacts. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. For the purpose of this thesis, the term political impacts will be defined as a positive or. ‧. negative change that stabilizes or destabilizes the political landscape in the country. Examples of. sit. y. Nat. these political impacts can be the relations between the different political parties, affecting the. n. al. er. io. international support and reputation, and local politics.. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 1.2.4 Security Impacts For the purpose of this thesis, the term security impacts will be defined as something that affects one or more aspects of; law and order, threatening the society in which people live in, security of a country’s border and territory. These impacts may increase security concerns on a daily basis, making it hard for a government to guarantee the safety of its people in their territory.. 9. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(17) 1.2.5 Social Impacts For the purpose of this thesis, the term social impact will be defined as a positive or negative change that improves or worsens the social interactions between the host country population and the refugees residing within their country. Examples of these social impacts can be the number of communications that occur between the refugees and the local population of the host country. These communications are presented in the form of trading between the two groups of peoples, social conflicts, insecurity, etc. These social bonds between the two groups of people can be improved, strained, or torn over time.. 1.2.6 Environmental Impacts. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. For the purpose of this thesis, the term environmental impact will be defined as a positive. ‧. or negative impact on the host countries environment. This impact can be a degradation of. sit. y. Nat. valuable resources needed to survive such as crops, food, and other life-sustaining resources, as. er. io. well as the host country’s scenery and beauty. These impacts can occur rather rapidly seeing. al. n. iv n C impacts immediately once the refugees have in the country, or they can occur h etaken i U n g cuphresidence over larger durations when the refugees are residing within the country for sustained amounts of time. The impacts can either be directly related to the refugees destroying the environment or in contrast, can be indirectly related to the refugees.. 1.2.7 Positive Impacts For the purpose of this thesis, the term positive impact will be defined as an impact on the country of Bangladesh which can be viewed in a direct or indirect way that leads one to believe that the impact is positive in nature. Examples of positive impacts can be seen in economic terms, 10. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(18) directly adding new jobs with bring more money to the country. In addition, positive impacts can also be observed more indirectly when witnessing environmental degradation, which can breed more positive protections against future environmental degradation. Positive impacts can stir emotions such as happiness, confidence, content, trust, etc. Positive impacts can be observed in most areas of study in this thesis, however, some may not be completely viewed in the light of positivity for everyone reading this thesis.. 1.2.8 Negative Impacts For the purpose of this thesis, the term negative impacts will be defined as an impact on. 政治大 the country of Bangladesh which can be viewed in a direct or indirect way that leads one to 立 ‧ 國. 學. believe that the impact is negative in nature. Negative impacts can stir emotions such as anger,. ‧. fear, distrust, etc., in social relations these emotions most of the time lead to negative impacts or. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. results. Negative impacts can be observed in most areas of study in this thesis.. 1.3 Literature Review. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Since 1997, when the UN released their report about the social and economic impacts of refugees on their host countries, which involved a specific focus on developing countries the research about these impacts and the effects about past, present, and future refugees has increased (UNHCR, 1997). However, the possible research that could have occurred in those 20 years since the UN’s groundbreaking report is rather discouraging. Considering that with the amount of time and amount of refugees being displaced in those 20 years, a large amount of. 11. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(19) research could have been conducted. This section will summarize all the major findings that have been discovered during and before this time.. Chambers in his article Hidden Losers (1986), lays the groundwork prior to the UHCR report; this groundwork concerns the impact of refugees on poorer or more developing countries. Garcia and Saah (2010), go on more than 20 years later to confirm these statements that Chambers had previously made. Their arguments can be summed up with the attention to rural areas in which natural resources sometimes have the possibility of being scarce or limited, in situations where refugees are placed into these areas, it is likely that the communities of the host. 政治. countries will be hurt by the influx of refugees. This大is due to the fact that the already. 立. ‧ 國. 學. functioning locals will have to compete for resources with the new incoming refugees. They both say that this competition for resources between the locals and outsider refugees could be due to. ‧. sit. y. Nat. the refugee’s camp development, or possibly due to the poor resources within the camp, causing. n. al. er. io. the refugees to seek resources needed to survive and flourish outside the borders of the camp.. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Chambers, Garcia (1986) and Saah (2010) Furthermore, make sure to mention that even though these refugees can have various impacts on competition and resources deprivation, they can also have more positive effects on the host country. These positive effects could be the possibilities of development that refugees bring with them, being the development of social services, i.e. schools, and health services, that the U.N. or other organizations will seek to provide the new refugees with in order to maintain a sustainable life.. 12. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(20) Garcia and Saah (2010), along with Maystadt and Verwimp (2014), mention more positive and negative effects that refugees have, these can be the supplies intended for the refugees being misused, or the refugees taking their received supplies to sell or exchange them with the locals in their local markets. This is positive for the refugees, in that they will be able to earn money, and positive for the locals in that they will get more opportunities for trade, however, the negative effects will be the misused resources that the U.N. or other organizations are seeking to provide to the refugees. If these organizations find out that the refugees are indeed misusing their funded aid, they may be less willing to continue to provide these types of aid resources in the future.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 1.3.1 Security Impacts. 政治大. The security of a country is the most important goal for a country’s leaders to consider,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. however, there are many things that can cause a country to stumble and feel vulnerable. There. n. a l as the ones from terrorism, are more obvious security threats, such but there are also more noniv. Un i e h n c g direct external and internal threats to a country. These various direct and indirect security threats. Ch. have been studied by a wide range of scholars, using different fields and lens to view security. Hoerz (1995), includes food security as a possible impact from refugees, as there is a connection between environmental and security impacts. Food security is just as important if not more important to a country than possible terrorist threats. The possibility of food shortages leading to famine, and possible mass deaths, versus a few terrorist attacks killing smaller numbers of people.. For a country to survive and thrive they first must secure their food chain. Choucri and North (1990), talk about three different security types of threats that refugees can place on their 13. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(21) host countries, called the Strategic, Regime, and Structural dimensions. The strategic dimension is the ability to defend their territory, the regime dimension is their ability to defend their regimes, and finally the structural dimension their ability to balance their resources. As we can see refugees in their opinion can affect multiple layers of a country. As we can see security threats can come in all forms, even crossing and overlapping with other impacts such as political, and environmental.. 1.3.2 Political Impacts. 治camps allows for an environment where Grindheim (2013) notes that within 政refugee. 大立 refugees can unite together to form and mobilize other refugees with similar political views as ‧ 國. 學. their own. Once mobilized these groups within the refugee camps can try to execute attacks. ‧. against their home country to retaliate against their home country’s government. Whether these. y. Nat. er. io. sit. attacks can also be directed towards the refugee’s current host country has not been seen,. n. a l current host country of however, the author suspects that if the i v a refugee group has been treating. Un i e h n c g the refugees wrongfully, then we could also see these attacks in addition within the host country. Ch. of said refugees. Grindheim also says that since the UNHCR and other aiding NGOs mostly if not exclusively provide assistance to refugees and not to the host country’s population, then this can and has damaged the host-refugee relationship (Grindheim, 2003). From the perspective of the host country’s population, this can be seen as marginalization from the UNHCR and other NGOs.. Murshid (2010) writes that as a result of hosting refugees within one’s country can lead to a change in the way that country views the sending countries of those refugees. That at times 14. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(22) the hosting country can intervene within that sending country as was the case for the US in Haiti, India in Bangladesh, and the UN in a multitude of various countries. Murshid presents an insightful critic of this intervention by presenting the notion of the UN intervening in the sending countries conflict or issues, results in the hosting country not having to intervene themselves, thus becoming a free-rider (Murshid, 2010, p. 151). However, in some cases when the severity of the problem created by the influx of said refugees in a hosting country becomes too high, this can change the political arena of that hosting country to be much more open to intervening in the sending country.. 政治. Dzimbiri (1993), explores the idea of deep-rooted大political issues related to a countries. 立. ‧ 國. 學. obligation and capacity to take in refugees, specifically looking at poorer or developing nations. Even though his paper was written around 20 years ago, we can see this trend of a resurgence of. ‧. sit. y. Nat. deep-rooted political issues and grievances in Europe and the US as well as other countries. The. er. io. US and Europe may not be a poor developing country, but still uses this obligation complaint to. n. a. v. reject future refugees, and even to lreduce numbers. In addition to the ni C in current refugee. hengchi U. obligation complaint by the host country, we see in Europe and the US the host country quoting threats arising from the intake of refugees as one of the attributing reasons for the rejection of refugees. Dzimbiri makes further arguments for negative political impacts of refugees, in the way a country values and “assists refugees while ignoring the local” population (Dzimbiri, 1993, p.5).. 1.3.3 Economic Impacts For the longest time in refugee studies, the economic impacts of refugees were only contained within the realm of negative impacts that are refugees only cause economic hardships 15. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(23) and strife for the host country. Countries can use this excuse of refugees creating economic hardships for their country to limit or even block refugees altogether from entering their countries. This can be broadcasted to their respective constituents to draw out more support for limiting or blocking refugees; we can see this type of approach in the US, Europe and other parts of the world. However, another field of scholarship in the area of a refugee’s economic impacts is arguing the exact opposite; that is refugees can and have exhibited positive economic impacts on their host countries. Jacobsen (1996) protests that refugees can give their host nations short and long-term economic benefits. She attributes these economic benefits to the money that is given to a specific country for use for supporting the refugees they have taken in. What Jacobsen. 政治. states can happen is that the money can be given first 大 to the host country of need; after the. 立. ‧ 國. 學. money is used on the immediate problems, then the money that is left over or misused can sometimes ‘trickle out’ into the host countries local community. This may or may not hurt the. ‧. sit. y. Nat. refugees in need, but this will help the local people in that country will gain for the trickle down. al. n. a better light.. er. io. of aid money into the local community, this can even cause the locals to think of the refugees in. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Another large economic benefit that Jacobsen, as well as other authors, have started to mention is that refugees can aid their host countries standard of living by supplying both a workforce and by using the money given to them by agencies such as the UN. Some evidence that she supplies to support this is by referencing the region of sub-Saharan Africa, who received a sum of almost $250 million from the UNHCR; Jacobsen has found that some of this money has trickled down into the local community (Jacobsen, 1996). Besides the direct monetary contribution, received from international organizations, finding its way in the host country’s. 16. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(24) local community, she also contributes the fact that these various organizations providing monetary resources to said host countries, as well are contributing food and faculties, such as schools, health clinics, vehicles, and equipment. These various resources and structures are for use by the locals of these countries, to perhaps encourage them to be more open to the idea of hosting refugees and to consider taking in more refugees, by offering them the chance to gain from the refugees (Jacobsen, 1996). Jacobsen aids this field of positive economic and material benefits to host countries field enormously, adding yet another example of refugees bringing with them their possessions. These possessions can be (trucks, gold, or cattle) and also themselves; the material and physical possessions can be used and can provide another resource. 政治. to the locals, as well as the refugees themselves supplying大 the host countries with the possibility. 立. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 1.3.4 Social Impacts. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. of gaining much-needed labor and skills.. n. Chambers (1986) states thatathe can cause on their hosting iv l social impacts refugees. Un i e h n c g countries citizens can be both positive and negative. Negative impacts are that refugees can in. Ch. some cases put enormous stress and strain on the hosting country’s service sector, i.e. labor, food, and common property resources (Chambers, 1986). Chambers noted that the combined strain on these areas the can reinforce negative perceptions of the refugees, creating tensions on the host countries so much the that it can sometimes open opportunities for conflict to spawn. Felleson (2003) implies that economic development is the main factor that determines the relationship between the local population and refugees. However, even he continues to say that though economic development is the main factor, it is not the only determining factor in the refugee-host country relationship. If we do not focus on the personal interaction between the refugees and the 17. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(25) host population/ communities, this can lead to a breakdown in the relationship to the point of conflict (Felleson, 2003).. All of this suggests social advancement between the refugees and local population and communities needs to regularly occur, through dialog and relationship building between the locals and the refugees. In positive examples of the relationship between the locals and refugees advancing Berry (2003) observes that in the case of Tanzania, that marriages between the refugees and local population were ‘fairly common’. This can of course change in numbers over the years depending on the social relationship between the two groups and their perceptions and. 政治. 大 to both exit and enter the refugee interactions, as well as the restricted mobility of the refugees. 立. ‧ 國. 學. camps in their host country. However, what Berry recognizes is something that Felleson tries to emphasize, that it is of great importance for the refugees and the host countries population to. ‧. sit. y. Nat. have personal interaction (Fellesson, 2003, p. 86). Berry’s observation of an example of personal. er. io. interaction is the highest form, in the form of marriage, marriage links the refugee and the host. n. a. v. l Cand throughout multiple country’s population together indefinitely layers. ni. hengchi U. 1.3.5 Environmental Impacts Hoerz (1995) says that refugees can have environmental impacts on both the hosting countries as well as the country the refugees emanate from. The impacts on the hosting country, however, are often a much more of a cited occurrence, and for that reason the majority of the time, it is the only voice heard from the two countries. Berry (2008) says that numerous amounts of environmental impacts have been seen as a direct result of refugees in her case study of Tanzania and that these impacts can be seen elsewhere, as well. This is not to say that refugees 18. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(26) are the only attributing cause of environmental degradation impacts on hosting countries, cases have been observed in which the local population does, in fact, help contribute to these negative environmental impacts on their own country. She continues her evaluation into the effects that these refugees are having in Tanzania by saying the refugees are participating in illegal poaching of animals, removing trees at a high rate, causing depletion of the soil, and polluting the water (Berry, 2008). These very same arguments have been proposed by other various authors along with different case studies of different regions of the world. Due to the abundant amount of arguments concluding the same negative results associated with the refugees, this looks to be possible and most likely the case directly impacted due to the refugees.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Further observations of impacts on the environment were witnessed in Nepal in the early 1990s when Bhutanese refugees of around 100,000 flooded into Nepal to escape cultural. ‧. sit. y. Nat. harassment in Bhutan (Baral, 1996). The future effects on the environment would be the tearing. er. io. down of forests to obtain life-sustaining resources of fuel and timber (Nagata, 2006). Therefore. n. a. v. i such as trees, used for building l C that the forestsnhad because of the refugees need of resources. hengchi U. homes, and making use for fuel, the refugees cleared forests of substantial amounts in a short amount of time, in turn putting pressure on the resources Nepal possessed. The management of the resources available was not managed sensibly and thus took a large hit. From the impacts on the environment, the social relationship between the Bhutanese refugees and the local population of Nepal worsened. Not until later in time did the local population begin to take a more active role in managing and protecting their resources and larger environment (Nagata, 2006). 19. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(27) Jacobsen (1996) said that a possible solution to reduce the refugee's impact on the environment is to socialize them or integrate them into society, she says that it is likely that they will practice the same community practices that the locals do if this is done. The refugees will be more connected with the local environment that they find themselves in, therefore they will want to protect and sustain the environment. Adding to this Zetter (1995) says that refugees that are self-settled show attributes such as flexibility in their environmental choices, these various choices can lead to more sustainable practices and choices of settling locations. In contrast, Martin (2005) shows that some scholars argue that refugees act in ways that value current consumption over future consumption. Meaning that refugees only care about destroying the. 政治. environment if that means that they will live another 大 day, versus rationing the number of. 立. ‧ 國. 學. resources extracted from the environment to make them last longer. This is supported by states that proclaim that the refugees do not have much stake in the future of the country that they are. ‧. er. io. sit. y. Nat. hosted in because they will ultimately be either repatriated or sent to another country of hosting.. n. a. v. l C is the relationship Other impacts studied by scholars n i between the environment and. hengchi U. conflict. Martin (2005) studied conflicts whose origins originated from the environment and the refugees impact of their host country’s environment, causing conflict between the refugees and the host population. He says that there is always a chance of conflict to occur when resources which are important create a competition to obtain them, however, there are also ways in which this resource competition can have more cooperative solutions as well. Moreover, the scarcity of resources that the environment provides can act as an indirect cause of conflict between the refugees and host population, in some cases amplifying other possible causes of conflict, in his example ethnic differences (Martin, 2005).. 20. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(28) 1.4 Research Method This thesis will apply the qualitative research methods to better understand the impacts that refugees have on their host countries. Most of the literature and studies having been produced or presently being produced in the field of refugee studies examines the economic impact that refugees can have on their host countries. However, what most are lacking, and what is now being understood with great magnitude, is that economic impacts are not the only impact that refugees can have on their host country, that has the ability to destabilize and sometimes cause great chaos within a nation already struggling to develop. There are ever growing amounts of research being conducted to see what effects refugees. 政治大 are having on their hosting countries. 立However, despite this growing number of researchers in ‧ 國. 學. the field, there is still a lack of a theoretical and conceptual theory to describe what those impacts. ‧. could be and why the refugees have these adverse impacts. This thesis will construct and use a. sit. y. Nat. qualitative research design to determine what these impacts are, and what are the attributing. er. io. causes of these impacts. A qualitative research design is best to analyze the different impacts that. al. n. iv n C the refugees cause to their host countries communities, U why these impacts are occurring. Due h e n g c h iand to the nature of the problem, it is very problematic and difficult to measure in actual numbers the socio-economic, environmental, political and security impacts of the refugees on their host countries and its peoples; because of this difficulty and near impossible task, it is not wise to conduct a quantitative research approach in this thesis.. This thesis will apply the use of secondary sources, because of the limited time and resources available to the author the use of primary sources, through interviews and firsthand data gathering is not feasible. The secondary data will be obtained from long-established credible. 21. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(29) organizations such as the UNHCR, reputable NGOs, newspapers, scholarly work, and other public information available on governmental websites. The author of this thesis will use the most applicable sources and data available, being careful not to use information or data can contain personal views and opinions could be influenced by many external factors, which could lead to biased and corrupt data.. Because this study will be using secondary sources, therefore heavily relying on others’ research. The information and data used will be selected on non-bias criteria towards language and country of origin. As this study will target the occurrences in Bangladesh, due to it being. 政治. 大from Asian sources. Making sure not located in Asia, the study will collect ample amount of data. 立. ‧ 國. 學. to give a generalized western influence to the study, this type of data collection is most suitable for our purposes. It is also important to note that with the recent surge of the refugee’s migration. ‧. sit. y. Nat. out of Myanmar and into Bangladesh at the end of 2017, the amount of data will be limited due. er. io. to the recent nature of events. Therefore, physical research articles, books, and more substantial. n. a. v. empirical evidence may be limited atl the n i this thesis. To make up for the C time of publishing. hengchi U. possibility of data gap, local and international news sources will be taken into account.. The case study of Bangladesh is a single case study; this allows the researcher to analyze the direct, in-depth characteristics and nature of impacts that the Rohingya refugees can and have had on their Bangladesh. This case observed will by no means be used to make generalizations about all of developing nations as a whole, but purely to shed some light on the various impacts that refugees can have on developing nations. In addition, this study hopes to be a catalyst creating the motivation and drive for other academics to explore this phenomenon involving. 22. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(30) refugees and their hosting countries to add more valuable empirical evidence, which can be used for policymakers in an affected present or future country to develop the needed policies and infrastructure in place to combat and prevent the possible disastrous impacts.. 1.5 Research Limitations Due to the nature of the recent conflict between the Rohingya and the Buddhist of Myanmar, the likelihood of certain impacts occurring or not occurring is something that continues to be unknown. As in most cases of refugee creation, the probability of the refugees being repatriated back to their sending country is ordinarily almost unknown beforehand.. 政治. 大 this paper attempts to stay current Therefore, the situation studied in this paper is organic and. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. research.. 學. with events, however, in the future information may become available that supersedes this. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. 1.6 Organization of Thesis Chapters. i Un. Ch. v. n gsocial-economic chi Chapter two and three will analysis e the and environmental impacts of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Following those, chapter four will cover the political and security impacts of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Chapter five conclude this thesis and look to the future of refugee impact studies as well as give implications of this research conducted.. 23. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(31) Chapter 2- Socio-Economic Impacts of the Rohingya 2.1 Bangladesh’s General Public's View on the Rohingya Generally, the opinion from the local population of Bangladesh of the Rohingya refugees entering their country from Myanmar is separated into two fields. The first field is one of compassion, and the second field is one of reality and rationality. The first field of compassion is composed of Bangladeshi’s view that the Rohingya are people of the world, such as themselves. Furthermore, the Rohingya are a Muslim majority group, as is the general population of Bangladesh, with Muslims making up 90% of Bangladesh. With this shared identity and. 治 to relate to the Rohingya in their time of background of persecution, the Bangladeshis 政are able 大. and rationally thinking considers the problem of the. 學. ‧ 國. need. The second field one of. 立 reality. Rohingya refugees a resource drain both on their land and on their economy. Some responses of. ‧. Bangladeshi people are recorded below,. er. io. sit. y. Nat. n. a l prices of food and transport “With all these extra people the have increased a lot over the iv. Un i e h n c g about our security.. Ch. past weeks. And I have concerns. These refugees are so poor and. hopeless. At some point they may go out stealing.” (Hoekstra, 2017) “This could be really bad for us. The Rohingya may take our jobs. They now have nothing and I'm sure they are willing to work for less money than we do” (Hoekstra, 2017) “Why should we take care of them? We are a poor people–already we can’t eat; no jobs. I think it will be best if they return to their country” (Crabtree, 2010, p. 52) “They are here because they have no food and no jobs—we also don’t have—why should we help them?” (Crabtree, 2010, p. 52) 24. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(32) Despite some of the negative statements made by Bangladeshis there is still a large population of Bangladeshi where people are donating money to help the Rohingya refugees, giving whatever they have to give, (J. Alam, 2017) by conducting campaigns all across Bangladesh to collect resources to help the refugees. Most of the negative sentiment is centered around where the refugee currently resides, thus the most direct and substantial impacts lie there.. 2.2 Bangladesh Policy on Refugees Bangladesh began changing its policies towards refugees beginning in the early 1990s, from a then welcoming of refugee’s policy 政 to more治 hostile towards refugee policies. The start of. 大立 the transition came in 1992, when the Rohingya were for the first time classified as illegal ‧ 國. 學. immigrants. Bangladesh even went as far as to forcibly repatriate the Rohingya refugees in three. ‧. instances and counting, first in April 1992 with 5,000 Rohingya, and second in 1993 when. y. Nat. er. io. sit. around 50,000 were repatriated (Ullah, 2017). Both cases were involuntary and disregarded at. n. al the memorandum of understanding (MOU) singed between the i v UNHCR and the GoB. Again, in. Un i e h n c g 2007 Bangladesh would involuntarily repatriate more Rohingya, this time it would do it at the. Ch. border, once the Rohingya reached the Bangladeshi border, the Bangladeshi law enforcement would have the go ahead to arrest and deport the Rohingya back across the border to Myanmar. New arrivals were deported, as well as previous arrivals that have already been in Bangladesh for multiple years were also deported in 2009. From 1992 until present day a move towards a statecentric foreign policy posture, something that we are not only seeing in Bangladesh, but also in a multitude of other countries around the world. Crossing over developed countries with large GDPs and sound political regimes, to developing countries with low GDPs and insecure and. 25. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(33) fragile political regimes. These state-centric foreign policies are meant to present national interests of one’s own country over that of refugee concerns (Ullah, 2017).. In 2014, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented to the UN and its different organizations its “National Strategy Paper on Myanmar Refugees and Undocumented Myanmar Nationals in Bangladesh”, in it lists five key elements that the GoB thinks will help handling refugees. The five key elements are: Surveying unregistered refugees, meeting refugee’s basic needs, strengthening border management, enhancing diplomatic engagement with the government of Myanmar, and increasing national level coordination (Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 政治. 大 Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2014).. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Looking at specific timeframe and case we see that after the “National Strategy Paper on. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Myanmar Refugees and Undocumented Myanmar Nationals in Bangladesh” Bangladesh has. er. io. been successful and unsuccessful in some of the elements that it set out to achieve. First element. n. a. v. l C is inconclusive, surveying undocumented Myanmar nationals n i due to the results from a census. hengchi U. taken in 2016 still not released. All we know now is that a census was taken by the government, while other surveys have been privately conducted by NGO and non-profits. The second element meeting of refugees basic needs has been satisfied, there will be always room for improvement, but for now the large majority of the refugees have their basic needs i.e. food, water, shelter, protection being met. The third element of strengthening border management has not been successful, Bangladesh has not been able to control their borders from being a target of easy arms, drugs and human trafficking. Fourth element, diplomatic engagement between the Bangladeshi and Burmese government has been a failure with relations at some of the all-time. 26. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(34) low, with top officials in the GoB saying “They are evil a rogue government” (Peterson, 2018). Fifth and final element of increasing national coordination has is met with mix results. While coordination between the GoB and the UN has been on perfect scale and speed, with the UN and the GoB being ready in the Cox’s Bazar area before the start of the refugee migration in late 2017. However, we cannot say that this coordination and cooperation will last, as in the past coordination has been good at times and terrible at others.. Using their border and coast guards, police, navy and other sources of power to block the Rohingya from entering Bangladesh. Not only is Bangladesh blocking Rohingya from entering. 政治. Bangladesh, but they are also blocking other humanitarian大 agencies from entering and stationing. 立. ‧ 國. 學. themselves around the refugee camps. Even well-known ones such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Action Against Hunger (ACF), and Britain’s Muslim Aid have been denied entry. They. ‧. sit. y. Nat. are doing this on paper to put pressure on Myanmar’s government to take back the Rohingya,. er. io. and make the Rakhine state safer, however, not only does it not do that, instead it hurts the. n. a. v. i Rohingya. It causes the Rohingya to dol aCcouple of things:nstarve and die off, or search for food. hengchi U. and resources outside the camp that is not being well supplied. In the chance that they do not do either of those choices, they will leave Bangladesh to go back to Myanmar or choose to seek refuge in another country, thus putting themselves back into the terrible conditions that they first escaped or creating the same situations as in Bangladesh but in a third country (Ullah, 2017).. 27. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(35) 2.3 Economic Impacts of Refugees The issue of social and economic impacts on the country of Bangladesh can at times be separate, intersecting or colliding. We will first examine the economic impacts separately, in the order of traditional economy and government spending. Second, after observing the effects on Bangladesh’s economy from the refugees, we will look at the social impacts of the Rohingya increased presence in Bangladesh.. Impacts on the traditional economy have been observed to be both positive and negative in nature. However, even though there are positive impacts on the economy that have been. 政治大 witnessed by both the government and 立 citizens of Bangladesh in a multitude of different ways, ‧ 國. 學. the highlighted impacts are overwhelmingly negative in nature. With reports with local. ‧. Bangladeshi people saying “we already have limited job resources in our country, so how are we. sit. y. Nat. supposed to give ‘these’ refugees jobs as well?” (Crabtree, 2010) Refugees seem to have an. er. io. indirect impact on the economy because of their need for a livable area, forests have been cleared,. al. n. iv n C (GoB) cooperative h ehas n gbeen chi U. and the Government of Bangladesh. in this. Forests clearing has. destroyed forests that had potential to bring in money for Bangladesh in a vast amount of different ways, estimates of monetary value total 18 million USD of negative economic impact (T. Khan, 2018).. Besides indirect economic impacts of forests clearing on Bangladesh, other negative economic impacts that the Rohingya refugees have had and are continually having on Bangladesh include; pressure on employment opportunities, depression of daily wages, increases of cost of living. First, the pressure on current and future employment opportunities of. 28. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(36) Bangladeshi citizens are currently, and will continue to be, affected by the increased refugee presence in the country. Now that there is a larger pool of labor available to employers to choose from which are willing to take lower wages, this has led to less employment of Bangladeshi citizens. Second, the depression of daily wages, because of an increased cheap labor force of Rohingya refugees in the country specifically the Cox’s Bazar area, the Bangladeshi citizens that hope to compete for employment opportunities alongside the refugees have taken wage cuts in hopes to obtain employment. With pay for a day-laborer in the Cox’s Bazar area at 150-200 BDT from the previous pay of 400-500 BDT per day (T. Khan, 2018). Third, the increased international aid worker’s presence in the Cox Bazar area has given way to a capitalist mindset. 政治. from the locals, seeing an opportunity to make money off大 of the foreigners in their country, the. 立. ‧ 國. 學. locals have increased their prices, therefore the locals living in the area have to bear the increased costs associated with this capitalist scheme.. ‧ sit. y. Nat. er. io. Looking at specific timeframe and case we can see that the reduction in day-laborer pay. n. a. v. has decreased from 400-500BDT to thel current low of 150-200BDT, some 200-350 BDT in total ni C. hengchi U. from 2017-2018 (T. Khan, 2018). Creating unemployment and bitterness towards the Rohingya that have taken their work. This reduction in pay can be directly attributed to the presence of the refugees in the Cox’s Bazar area, nothing else observable can be seen as to a cause of the reduction. If this continues we will see large amounts of employment in the region, with wideranging impacts on society.. Some small amount of Rohingya have been able to obtain illegally forged Bangladeshi passports, which has enabled them to leave Bangladesh and travel to a third country in search of. 29. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(37) work. Even though the number of Rohingya engaging in this type of illegal work is relatively small, it has had some effects on the economy of Bangladesh. Because Bangladesh is a poorer country, they have relied on their citizens venturing abroad in search of work and receiving the remittance from overseas Bangladeshi citizens. Therefore, because a small amount of Rohingya have been able to possess Bangladeshi passports they have succeeded in taking some of that total available remittance labor market away from ‘real’ Bangladeshi people (Uptala, 2010).. Although we have observed many negative economic impacts on Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi people, that does not mean that there are not many positive economic impacts to be. 政治. 大 young people’s employment seen as well. Some positive impacts include; increased. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. country.. 學. opportunities, entrepreneurial work, and the trickle down from the arrival of NGOs into the. sit. y. Nat. er. io. First, Young Bangladesh student-aged people have seen an uptick in employment. n. a. v. l C opportunities from the various humanitarian aid groups; n i only having first to meet some. hengchi U. requirements basic requirements, such as passing the HSC test which shows that they have already graduated from school. Once meeting the standard requirements for employment, these young students who previously had no source of employment or way of earning a wage, now have some job positions working with the humanitarian aid groups in a multitude of different ways (T. Khan, 2018). Next, alongside employing young people, the influx in refugees has also led to an uptick in entrepreneurial work, such as selling things in the local markets including, fish, vegetables, bamboo, etc. to the refugees.. 30. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(38) Last, even though there are obvious and easily observed effects on the economy from the refugees, some of these are canceled out by the large number of foreign aid workers from various NGOs and non-profits coming into the country. These aid workers put money, resources, and build up existing or damaged infrastructure. In these cases, that involve aid workers the result can sometimes lead to economic expansion (Cookson, 2017b). This economic expansion can give jobs to the jobless, and the social and daily life benefits can extend to local Bangladeshi people.. Economic stresses on Bangladesh and increased government spending has caused some. 政治. drastic options to be considered and even implemented.大 One of these very drastic and almost. 立. ‧ 國. 學. borderline inhumane options was first proposed in 2015, which entitled moving the refugees to a recently surfaced island off the coast of Bangladesh and was latter approved in 2017. In the. ‧. sit. y. Nat. following year construction began preparing the island for human habitation. The estimated cost. er. io. of making this uninhabited island habitable for the refugees is placed at 280 million USD.. n. a. v. l C for Bangladesh, which However, even this sum is a large expense n i is already struggling with. hengchi U. 31. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(39) Figure 2.1 Source: Rehabilitation work for Rohingya going on in full swing in Bhashan Char, Dhaka Tribune, 2018 financial burdens. Bangladesh is currently undergoing talks with the World Bank for taking out loans for help with financial problems. (T. Khan, 2018). In Figure 1, we can see a picture of the Bhashan Char Island that is currently being renovated to house the Rohingya refugees.. Looking at a specific case and timeframe we see that the almost 300 million USD that Bangladesh will spend on preparing the island for the refugees to be relocated to will put stress on their own development projects for the 2018 治 year. Even though the GoB will not have to. 政. 大立 come up with the total 300 million, they will have to put forth a good amount of it. Whether the ‧ 國. 學. relocating of the refugees to an island is needed or a necessary is hard to answer. All we know is. ‧. that Bangladesh considers it necessary, this relocating could or could not have impacts on not. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. people and the refugees.. y. only the economy of Bangladesh but also on the social relationship between the Bangladeshi. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Figure 2.2 Source: Human Response Plan September 2017 to February 2018, OCHA 2017. 32. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(40) Some hard numbers have been submitted of what it will take to house the refugees for the near future, although these costs are not for Bangladesh to bare alone, they are nonetheless substantial figures to consider. In Figure 2, shows that from September 2017 to February 2018, which is a period of six months the UN branch the Office for the Coordination Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) quoted 434 million USD to house and take care of the new refugees, not including the previous one’s refugees already in Bangladesh. While the UNHCR in addition to the OCHA’s requested money requested 83.7 million USD for the same period, and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) requested 144.6 million USD. The total from both the OCHA and the UNHCR put the number of money requested at 662.38 million USD. This money breaks. 政治. 大 down into 12 different areas which are shelter, food security, water sanitation and hygiene. 立. ‧ 國. 學. (WASH), site management, health, protection, education, nutrition, multi, communications and communities(CwC), coordination, and finally logistical (T. Khan, 2018).. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Table 2.1. 33. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(41) Source: Findings on Repatriation Time and Cost of Hosting Rohingya, Center for Policy Dialogue 2018. In addition to the money requested to take care of the refugees for just six months, a leading think tank from Bangladesh The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has started to estimate potential expenses of repatriating the Rohingya back to Myanmar. In Table 1 The CPD estimates that even if 200-300 Rohingya refugees were repatriated per day that it would take anywhere from seven to twelve years to complete the repatriation (T. Khan, 2018). Putting the years of final repatriation completion at 2025-2030, this is considering that repatriation is started. 政治. 大 road between Bangladesh and immediately and without hiccups and snags in the repatriation. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Myanmar. The cost that CPD estimates that it would cost the UN to repatriate the Rohingya refugees would be around 4.43 to 10.45 billion USD. Even though this is only one estimate and it. ‧. sit. y. Nat. is purely just that an estimate, considering repatriation were to be started in 2018. To start. er. io. repatriation in 2018 that would take an agreement between not only Bangladesh and Myanmar. n. a. v. l C but the rest of the world through the international organizational structure of the UN (T. Khan, ni 2018).. hengchi U. Impacts on the tourism part of the economy have been both positive as well as negative. The positive impacts have been from the large increase in foreign as well as domestic Bangladeshi aid humanitarian organizations flooding into the Cox’s Bazar area where the refugees are located, they will invest in the economy in the forms of hotels, food, and services (Washington Post, 2018). However, on the flipside of that is the fact that most of the influx of humanitarian aid workers are foreigners, and usually with real or perceived financial funds,. 34. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(42) therefore, it has caused the basic goods sector to increase its cost to try and benefit from the influx of foreigners with more money (Washington Post, 2018). The owners in the basic goods sectors have benefitted from this price hike, but the locals with less money cannot afford this price hikes. Here in this example we have positive impact for the local business owners, where their profits have increased due to the increase in refugees in the area. However, the negative impact hit hard at the poorest of Bangladeshi people in the area, already struggling to stay afloat.. 2.4 Social Impacts of Refugees Impacts on the social relationship 治 the Rohingya refugees and the local 政between. 大. the history of the exodus of the Rohingya from. 學. ‧ 國. Bangladeshi population has. 立over changed. Myanmar into Bangladesh. Social effects on the host country and on the refugees inside. ‧. Bangladesh can be present in many different forms, the different forms that this thesis will. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. and Law and Order.. sit. discuss are broken down in four areas; those include Social Relationships, Health, Education,. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 2.4.1 Social Relationships Do to the Rohingya newly substantial presence in Bangladesh and the cheap labor that they bring to the local area around the refugee camps and areas where the Rohingya are living, this has caused the price of goods to go up and local labor employment to go down. For that reason, the locals that once were able to buy goods at previous low prices are not able to, therefore this has bred discontent among the locals against the Rohingya and the consequences of them coming to Bangladesh. Moreover, on account of the Rohingya willing to work for much. 35. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(43) less than the local Bangladeshi population has bred more discontent towards the Rohingya, for now, the locals are being pushed indirectly out jobs. The locals who are now jobless are disenfranchised, even though the Rohingya do not wish to affect their host country’s local population to this level, they need to provide for themselves and family need. In addition to the indirect causes of the Rohingya on the local Bangladeshi population, there are direct consequences of the Rohingya presence on the locals. First, since the substantial sudden influx of Rohingya, the World Food Program has reportedly stopped giving monthly stipends of 1050 TK to the locals that say used to receive them (T. Khan, 2018). Second, since the Rohingya refugee camp was built upon forests that were cleared to make room for them,. 政治. some people that used to make livings from the land the大 cleared have now lost that source of. 立. 2018).. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. income. One person said that he has claimed to have lost 1.79 million USD of revenue (T. Khan,. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat 2.4.2 Health and Education. Ch. i. e. i Un. v. g c h not only can they exist between the local Social problems exist in all shapes andnforms, population of the host country, but they can also exist inside the refugee camps. NGO workers that are working alongside the Rohingya in the refugee camps have reported that there is a lack of family planning teachings being taught to the new refugees, because of this lack of awareness the population within the refugee camps may increase in the near future. Experts say 48,000 babies were born from the Rohingya in Bangladesh, because living conditions within and around the refugee camps the babies have high chances of being born into situations where their chances of experiencing malnutrition, disease and worse death are much higher than the local population (Taylor, 2018).. Already underprepared and pressures of resources, food, etc., can lead to 36. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.

(44) increasingly bad outcomes for the refugees inside the camps. If the population of the refugees grows exponentially this growth could have the chance of reaching outside the already cramped refugee camps.. 2.4.3 Health Health issues already observed by the World Health Organization (WHO), are 3253 cases of Diphtheria (T. Khan, 2018). Diphtheria is a bacterial infection with symptoms ranging from. 治 swelling from enlarged lymph nodes, and mild to severe, including the blockage of airways, 政 neck. 大立 fever, the symptoms can appear on the skin, eyes, and or the genital region. Death is reported to ‧ 國. 學. occur between 5 and 10% of the cases worldwide. However, of the 3253 cases observed by the. ‧. WHO of the Rohingya refugees thirty-nine deaths were recorded, or 1.2% death rate. Health. y. Nat. er. io. sit. conditions in the refugee camps are not good, workers working for WASH have reported on the. n. sanitary conditions of latrines. Each alatrine is used by ten families, which is up to sixty people. iv l. Un i e h n c g Each latrine is filled fast considering the number of people using them and the dated design of. Ch. them (T. Khan, 2018). However, not all of this is due to the failure of WASH to provide satisfactory latrines, but by the refugee’s preference to use old ones over the use of the new ones. Therefore, a likely outcome of the refugee’s choice to not use new latrines and to stick with the old ones will be open defecation, because open defecation increases the risk of diseases spreading, this could become bad very quickly. If diseases were to break out in large quantities this could risk the diseases spreading outside of the refugee camps.. 37. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMPIS.008.2018.A06.