As Canada revamps its strategy for the Rohingya crisis, advocates are urging a rethink

OTTAWA — As Canada’s strategy to support the Rohingya people expires, advocates are calling for a rethink of how Ottawa is trying to limit suffering in Bangladeshi refugee camps and dismantle the military junta overseeing ethnic violence in Myanmar.

“We can’t walk away from this,” said Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.

In October 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Rae as special envoy to Myanmar following violence by Buddhist extremists against their Muslim neighbors the Rohingya. Human rights groups say the country’s army has killed, raped and burned entire villages.

The crisis has forced nearly a million Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, where they languish in a crowded camp. Rae issued a report on the crisis that prompted Canada to launch a strategy in 2018.

Ottawa appointed Rae to the UN in 2020, and Myanmar’s military led a 2021 coup against its democratic government.

The military junta has overseen increasing ethnic conflict in Myanmar, which Rae called “more disastrous by the hour.”

Across the border in Bangladesh is the world’s largest refugee camp in the city of Cox’s Bazar, which Jason Nickerson, a Médecins Sans Frontières representative in Ottawa, visited in February.

“The camp itself is quite a miserable place and also volatile,” he said. “It’s surrounded by a chain-link fence, and people don’t have the legal ability to go out and look for work.”

There are almost no permanent structures, which leads to frequent outbreaks of scabies and communicable diseases. Some have started making risky journeys to countries like Malaysia, where they end up being exploited.

“A lot of the world has moved on, in terms of donor funding and donor interest, and so services are declining,” Nickerson said.

“The conditions in the Bangladeshi camp are objectively and demonstrably worse when we look at public health indicators and the kinds of medical needs we see in our clinics.”

Nickerson was concerned that he would see no mention of the Rohingya in last month’s federal budget, particularly as Ottawa launched a second phase of its Rohingya strategy in 2021, which ended on March 31 of this year.

“Canada has really shown some leadership and commitment to the Rohingya people in responding to this major humanitarian emergency over many years, and I think it’s really insufficient to let it go,” he said.

Global Affairs Canada has not said whether a third phase is in the works, though Rae said there will “definitely be a next phase, there’s no question. The work is in progress.”

The conflict has largely disappeared from the news cycle, overshadowed by crises elsewhere. But Rae insists it is a frequent topic at UN headquarters, where she heads a multinational task force on Myanmar.

“It’s just a matter of everyone figuring out what can be done about it, and that’s where I think our collective efforts still fall short.”

He said Canada has a “substantial and multi-dimensional” response to the crisis, such as joining the Netherlands in looking at accountability through international tribunals for the military junta.

Myanmar is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member bloc that Rae says has tried hard to engage diplomatically with the regime but has failed to steer it away from violence.

Meanwhile, the autocracies increased their support for the military junta.

“The junta has the de facto support of the Chinese government and the very active military support of the Russian government,” he said. “That polarization of support has become even clearer.”

Rae said countries like Canada must do everything possible to establish a democratic government through elections in Myanmar. “This is the only way we will have a Rohingya repatriation process.”

He noted that general humanitarian funds in this spring’s budget and the Indo-Pacific strategy can boost efforts for the Rohingya population, in addition to the $600 million Canada provided in response to the 2017 Rohingya crisis.

Jaivet Ealom, head of the Rohingya Center of Canada, said he appreciates Ottawa’s diplomatic efforts for accountability. But he says Canada could do a lot more to help those stuck in the camp.

“Canada is not using all the tools it has up its sleeve,” said Ealom, who fled Myanmar in 2013.

Rae called for a senior civil servant to coordinate responses from all federal departments and report publicly, which Ealom laments never happened.

He said Canada has mostly written checks to large, multilateral organizations, which he says are often slow to respond and have difficulty gaining unrestricted access to the Rohingya in the camp. He said this is a problem because Bangladeshi officials oversee some of the aid delivery, so Rohingya are unlikely to highlight problems with the camp to people in Bangladeshi organizations.

Ealom says Canada should better consult the Rohingya diaspora and connect with their contacts on the ground, including people running their own projects in the camp that would benefit from foreign funding.

He said the Rohingya welcome projects funded by Canada to provide early education, but there is little to help young adults obtain academic credentials to help them pursue higher education. Ealom said the absence of opportunities or prospects for resettlement abroad is contributing to a problem of Rohingya youth in the camp joining armed gangs.

“This is happening because there is no hope at the end of the tunnel,” he said, arguing that Canada should reassess its strategy based on what actually works.

Rae said Canada has strived to move beyond reactive humanitarian funding into development work that can empower the Rohingya.

“It continues to be a challenge to engage with the Bangladeshi government,” Rae said. “We just haven’t seen that evolve at a pace that we think would make sense, and that involves some difficult conversations with the Bangladeshis and others.”

Rae said Bangladesh restricted Rohingya from operating basic food carts in the camp and from leaving the camp for work.

“You’re going to end up with people with nothing but time on their hands,” he said.

“I mean, it’s not that complicated.”

Bangladesh’s high commission in Ottawa offered a lengthy statement, noting that it is the largest funder of Rohingya refugees, including primary education. The mission noted that the sudden onslaught of Rohingya people working illegally has affected the local economy and reduced wages.

“The Rohingya are engaged in skills development activities in the camps, aimed at facilitating their reintegration into their ancestral society upon voluntary return,” part of the statement read.

“However, the prospect of allowing Rohingya to study in the Bangladeshi national curriculum or participate in wider economic activities outside the camps in Cox’s Bazar will have a negative impact on the local host community.”

Nickerson said Bangladesh has not been adequately supported by global governments in caring for refugees or finding a lasting solution to the crisis, which is turning into “a bigger and more complex emergency.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 19, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, Canadian Press