thesis on refugee camps

Approaches to the design of refugee camps: An empirical study in Kenya, Ethiopia, Greece, and Turkey

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management

ISSN : 2042-6747

Article publication date: 9 March 2018

Issue publication date: 17 October 2018

An unprecedented scale of human migration has lead humanitarians to view camps as long-term settlements rather than temporary holding facilities. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of and identify challenges with this proposed new approach to camp design.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the camp design literature, the authors developed an interview guide and checklist for data collection. A multi-site case study and within- and cross-case analysis was then conducted.

The findings suggest that the proposed new approach is implemented only to a limited extent, and mostly in a stepwise manner. As camps mature, there is a shift toward the new approach, but most camps are established using the traditional top-down, temporary, and isolated approach.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are based on four camps in four different countries and do not provide an exhaustive global coverage.

Practical implications

The insights the authors derived and the challenges identified from the empirical evidence can be used to better plan future camps.

Social implications

The results can support improvements in camp design, thus alleviating suffering for both refugees and host communities, particularly in developing countries. In particular, the trade-off between a permanent solution and the temporary must be accounted for.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by developing and proposing a conceptual framework to camp design. The cross-case analysis provides an initial understanding and categorization of challenges with implementing the new approach. It also suggests an evolutionary perspective of camp design.

• Embeddedness
• Camp design
• Humanitarian operations

Jahre, M. , Kembro, J. , Adjahossou, A. and Altay, N. (2018), "Approaches to the design of refugee camps: An empirical study in Kenya, Ethiopia, Greece, and Turkey", Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management , Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 323-345. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-07-2017-0034

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Marianne Jahre, Joakim Kembro, Anicet Adjahossou and Nezih Altay

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction and purpose

Since 2008, there has been a staggering growth of displaced people due to rapid-onset natural disasters, conflict, and violence. By the end of 2016, the global number of persons of concern (PoCs) had increased by 58 percent to reach 67.7 million ( UNHCR, 2016 ). This rapid increase of PoCs, including both refugees and internally displaced people, has required significant expansions of existing camps and development of new camps. In parallel, many camps have become long-term accommodation ( Kennedy, 2005 ) following the persistence of armed conflicts, persecution, food insecurity, environmental degradation, poor governance, and countless other factors ( UNHCR, 2016 ). Also taking into consideration funding constraints, the humanitarian sector is urged to explore and implement more efficient and long-term approaches to camp design ( Kleinschmidt, 2015 ). Such refined design principles must support spatial planning and natural resource sustainability while minimizing tension and accounting for the needs, perspectives, and integration of refugees and host communities ( Kennedy, 2008 ; Adjahossou, 2015 ; Gibson, 2016 ).

Camps have, for several decades, been recognized as “temporary space[s] in which refugees may receive humanitarian relief and protection until a durable solution can be found to their situation” ( Ramadan, 2013 , p. 65). Locations have often been selected to isolate refugees from the local community and decisions regarding camp design have generally been made top-down. This can be referred to as the “traditional” approach to camp design. In contrast, a proposed new approach based on longer-term, participatory solutions, meaning that refugees and the local community actively participate in camp development and operation, is gaining increased attention among governments and humanitarian organizations. However, multiple challenges hinder its expansion. This paper increases our understanding of what we term the new approach by answering two questions: to what extent are camps currently being designed according to the new approach?; and what are the challenges to adopting the new approach?

As stated in the special issue’s call for papers, there is limited research on refugees in the humanitarian logistics (HL) and operations (HO) field ( Banomyong and Oloruntoba, 2016 ). We have reviewed the extant HL and HO literature on refugees, camp design, and local community participation, and find that the recent literature reviews ( Kunz and Reiner, 2012 ; Leiras et al. , 2014 ; Overstreet et al. , 2011 ) do not mention refugees’, even if they point to man-made disasters as focus for future studies. A few empirical studies within HL/HO can be identified: Kunz et al. (2015) on the use of vehicles for transport of refugees; Jahre et al. (2016) on the integration of supply chains for emergencies and ongoing operations (i.e. camps) in UNHCR; and Choi et al. (2010) on aid distribution to camps. The HL/HO literature has paid more attention to local communities (e.g. Sheppard et al. , 2013 ; Apte et al. , 2016 ; Bealt et al. , 2016 ), but not in relation to refugees or camp design. Finally, similar to beneficiaries in general ( Oloruntoba and Gray, 2009 ), the refugees’ perspective of what they want and need has often been overlooked. We aim to fill part of this gap by reviewing the practitioner and academic literature on camp design. Building on the literature review, we develop an analytical framework for an exploratory case study based on data from UNHCR refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia, Turkey, and Greece.

Our findings suggest that the proposed new approach is implemented only to a limited extent, and mostly in a stepwise manner. As camps mature, there is a shift toward the new approach, but most are established using the traditional top-down, temporary, and isolated approach. Implementation depends on a number of factors. making the universal design approach impossible. Our literature review indicates that local adaptations and long-term thinking have also been evident earlier. Our study suggests that camps engaging in local services exchange, however, is more recent and poses some specific challenges, partly explaining the limited implementation of the new approach ( Table III ). The main theoretical contribution in this study is the three key framework dimensions, namely, time, space, and resources, and the way we have operationalized them. We tested the framework in our case analysis and it proved useful for distinguishing camp designs. The necessity of differentiating between an early and mature stage led to a slightly revised framework, which we have termed an evolutionary model. After presenting the review of relevant literature and the framework in Section 2 , Section 3 describes the research design. Section 4 provides the case analysis, followed by discussion in Section 5 . Finally, Section 6 concludes and suggests further research.

2. Literature review

We did a structured keyword search using terms related to “camp design” and “refugees.” For the gray literature ( M Library, 2017 ), we used Google to identify relevant websites, articles, organizations, and content experts. For the academic literature, we used four recognized databases (Business Source Complete, Emerald, Sciencedirect, and Wiley) to capture a broad set of HL and non-HL journals. In total, we scanned more than 450 articles, 10 of which were deemed particularly relevant.

Kennedy (2008 , p. 33) defined a refugee camp as “a planned and specially-constructed settlement for a number of displaced households significant enough to also need dedicated non-residential buildings as part of the planned settlement,” while Pan (2016 , p. 118) described it as a “spatialization of exception.” While camps are not the only solution for displaced people ( Tatham and Houghton, 2011 ), they are the focus in this study. The traditional camp design approach is to set up “a temporary space in which refugees may receive humanitarian relief and protection until a durable solution can be found to their situation.” ( Ramadan, 2013 , p. 65 (italics added)). Next, we compare this approach to the new one using the three dimensions: time, space, and resource.

2.1 Time dimension

According to Kennedy (2008) , camp designers in the 1970s saw them as being rather permanent, for example, Cuny’s 1977 views on camp design as “creat[ing] settlements rather than simply an area of emergency shelter” (p. 133). However, from the early 1980s, the now traditional camp design approach is seen in the Sphere standards, as well as UNHCR documents: “UNHCR would remove from camp planning any elements which might be seen as leading towards turning a camp into a permanent settlement, (a process which amongst other things would in years to come see the removal of all vocabulary references to ‘permanent’ settlement features, such as ‘villages’, ‘streets’ and ‘housing’ (replaced by ‘shelters’).” ( Kennedy, 2005 , p. 107). There is the notion of seeing camps as temporary warehouses, that is, “refugee warehousing” ( Ilcan and Rygiel, 2015 ). Kleinschmidt (2015) described the controversy in the following words: “We were building camps: storage facilities for people. But the refugees were building a city.”

Camps increasingly provide long-term accommodation, such as in Dadaab (Somalis), Lebanon (Palestinians), and Algeria (Sahrawi), and are now considered human settlements that continuously change (e.g. Beehner, 2015 ; Dozema, 2016 ; Gibson, 2016 ; Dzeamisi, 2008 ). Kleinschmidt (2015) suggested that governments should stop thinking about refugee camps as temporary places. Kennedy (2005, 2008) claimed that because camps are much more long-term (average of seven years) than assumed, a standardized approach is not effective due to different cultures and situations. Furthermore, standards for non-residential buildings such as economic enterprises, schools, clinics, warehouses, administrative offices, and community centers are missing. Many camps lack space for outdoor facilities such as latrines, showers, cooking areas, water sources, and waste disposal. Kennedy concluded that the current state of camp design insufficiently considers the refugees themselves. In line with this thinking, Adjahossou (2015) suggested organizing a series of U-shaped compounds with enough space to care for a small garden; facilitating interactions between families by providing larger communal spaces; and providing durable housing solutions and flexible design accounting for lifestyles. One must also take into account that needs change, which means the camp must be able to adapt.

2.2 Space dimension

Camp design originally focused on technical/physical aspects such as size, layout, plots, and internal services (health, education, etc.), with physical access as the only connection to the “outside” ( Kennedy, 2008 ; Armstrong, 1990 ). Such aspects typically lead to warehouse-typical layout elements aiming to increase physical space utilization, decrease traveling distance and time, and increase throughput ( Huertas et al. , 2007 ; Bartholdi and Hackman, 2010 ), with zones, each dedicated for a specific purpose, are common ( Hassan, 2002 ; Gu et al. , 2007 ). In refugee camps, various zones could represent, for example, living quarters, schools, areas for medical care, or markets. A camp can be regarded as a node where people arrive, reside for shorter or longer time, and depart. To support refugees, camps, like warehouses, involve large material flows.

Internal physical aspects still constitute a large part of many standards and guidelines ( Adjahossou, 2015 ), for example, the UNHCR Emergency Handbook ( https://emergency.unhcr.org/ ) and Sphere ( www.spherehandbook.org ). Contrary to the view that camps are merely physical spaces, Ramadan (2013) argued that camps must be viewed as social, cultural, and political spaces to understand everyday politics and material practices of refugees, adding new dimensions to the traditional one-dimensional perspective. The most recent guidelines focus on integration with the local community ( CCCM Cluster, 2015a ; Gibson, 2016 ). Characteristics relating to the “outside” include surroundings, for example, closeness to refugees’ home and existing refugee settlements; topography for water and electricity installations and dwellings; community considerations such as separation between certain groups of refugees and surveillance to control unknown threats ( Pan, 2016 ); risk of floods, conflict, etc.; infrastructure such as proximity to ports and roads; and social criteria, for example, proximity to the local population ( Çetinkaya et al. , 2016 ). A main idea in the new approach is to break the isolation that refugees living in camps often experience ( Adjahossou, 2015 ). Segregating refugees from the host community in terms of employment, education, and social and cultural networks has negative consequences (Beehner, 2015).

Host communities are increasingly seen as important stakeholders with whom one should build relationships, particularly regarding extraction of natural resources, such as water, trees for fire, and land. New guidelines recommend establishing contacts with the host community, and ensuring that their representatives are consulted and attend camp coordination meetings ( CCCM Cluster, 2015b ). The integration of camps in the local context can be seen as embeddedness ( Granovetter, 1985 ), a concept that clarifies interfaces between an entity and its environment in terms of other entities and their relations that form a network ( Håkansson et al. , 2009 ). The basic assumption is that network embeddedness develops due to interdependencies between the activities undertaken, the resources involved in the conduct of these activities, and the actors controlling resources and undertaking activities ( Håkansson and Snehota, 1995 ). From this perspective, the new approach should consider interconnectedness between activities, actors, and resources.

2.3 Resource dimension

Previously, there was a disbelief in refugees’ and the local population’s own resources: “With a few invaluable exceptions they are usually unskilled and not used to working in an organized fashion” ( McAdam, 1987 , p. 110). Refugees were simply seen as receivers of aid with few of their own resources, and had to be cared for, necessitating a top-down camp design approach. It was difficult to make changes once decided and built. Resources were seen as flowing only one way: from local communities and their governments to the refugees.

This view has largely changed: “Refugee camps should be seen as engines of economic growth both for the host governments and the sending countries […]” ( Beehner, 2015 ). Sanyal (2011) compared camps with urban development wherein “refugees are active agents in the creation and consolidation of their community […]” (p. 885). The new approach emphasizes additional considerations, such as the camp residents’ civil rights ( Woroniecka-Krzyzanowska, 2017 ). Kleinschmidt (2015) referred to how “refugees at the vast Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan took things into their own hands, hacking the electricity supply to power businesses, erecting fountains and even building swimming pools.” Ellis and Barrakat (1996) suggested participatory projects to avoid refugees being passive recipients. Recent guidelines do indeed define refugee participation in camp design and development: a process that requires collective action taken to contribute to solutions ( CCCM Cluster, 2015a ).

The new approach sees resource sharing as essential ( Kleinschmidt, 2015 ). Adjahossou (2015) considered camps, their services, and inhabitants as resources for the local community. By building hospitals, schools, and markets at strategic points accessible by all, and no longer at the center of the camp as in the traditional approach, refugees, and local populations can share core resources such as water, electricity, education, and health services. Gibson (2016) suggested that “refugee camps should be rebadged as cities and turned into enterprise zones so inhabitants can set up businesses and build their own infrastructure.” Such an approach, he claimed, could benefit both the refugee and the host populations, as well as giving inhabitants useful skills for their eventual return to their homelands: “Surrounding communities would enjoy new investment and infrastructure, and governments would welcome refugees as a benefit rather than a burden.” This requires more of a bottom-up approach to camp design which should also be seen as a dynamic process, not a single instance of design intervention ( Kennedy, 2008 ).

2.4 A summarizing framework for data collection and analysis

Table I summarizes the findings from the literature review. The three key dimensions have been operationalized to be used for data collection and analysis.

3. Methodology for empirical study

3.1 case selection.

An exploratory multi-site case study was conducted following theory-building principles ( Eisenhardt, 1989 ; McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993 ; Miles and Huberman, 1994 ). Multi-site studies enable in-depth investigation of a phenomenon ( Voss et al. , 2002 ; Yin, 2014 ), as well as the opportunity to generalize findings beyond isolated cases ( Meredith, 1998 ), thus considered suitable for increasing our understanding of and identifying challenges with the new camp design approach.

The unit of analysis was defined as the approach to camp design, taking into account both the actual camp layout, the process for building and developing camps, and the integration between the camp and the host community. We conducted the study in collaboration with UNHCR considering their leading role on camp coordination and management worldwide with the mandate to provide international protection to refugees and forcibly displaced persons (mandate not exclusive with respect to internally displaced persons) inside as well as outside camp settings.

The first step in selecting cases was to identify countries where UNHCR has set up and manages camps for displaced people. We applied stratified sampling to “capture major variations rather than to identify a common core” ( Patton, 2002 , p. 240), and, based on a scoping study, identified four countries with differing contexts where UNHCR has adopted varied approaches to camp design. These four countries include Ethiopia and Kenya, both of which host several camps that have existed for a long time (e.g. Dadaab, Kakuma, and Bokolmanyo), and Turkey and Greece, two countries that have hosted numerous new camps since the start of the Syria crisis (e.g. Karkamis and Lagkadikia). All four countries have major ongoing UNHCR operations supporting displaced people: Ethiopia is currently the second-largest refugee hosting country in Africa and the fifth-largest worldwide; Kenya hosts the world’s largest refugee camps, including Kakuma, Hagadera, Dagahaley, and Ifo, all established in 1992; Turkey is the top hosting country in the world, providing shelter to 2.9 million displaced persons, primarily refugees from Syria; and Greece has received over 1 million sea arrivals since 2015, representing one of UNHCR’s most complex refugee operations dispersed across multiple Aegean islands (e.g. Lesvos, Chios, Samos, and Leros) ( www.unhcr.org ).

In the second step, we applied critical-case sampling to identify one case within each country. Critical cases can “make a point quite dramatically or are, for some reason, particularly important in the scheme of things” ( Patton, 2002 , p. 236). Hence, for the purpose of this paper, we selected cases that are particularly important from the perspective of developing the new approach of camp design. In Ethiopia, we selected Bur-Amino, which presented many challenges spurring UNHCR to rethink their approach. In Kenya, we selected Kalobeyei, which represents a settlement approach meant to empower refugees to become more self-reliant in the long term. In Turkey, Karkamis represents the country’s approach to camp design in a situation characterized by emergency and high influx, as well as resource constraints. Finally, Lagkadikia in Greece represents camps where the government and UNHCR implemented most integration with the local community.

3.2 Data collection and analysis

Based on the literature review, we developed a framework (see Table I ), which was used as a foundation and “guideline when entering the empirical world” ( Dubois and Gadde, 2014 , p. 1279). Data collection comprised multiple primary and secondary sources, including situational reports and website links ( Appendix 3 ) and field trips, visits to camps, and structured interviews ( Appendices 1 and 2 ). Interviewees were selected based on their role in camp design and management, established contacts, and by using the snowballing technique, i.e. asking one interviewee to suggest others ( Bryman and Bell, 2015 ). A total of 19 interviews were conducted either face-to-face or via Skype, lasting from 30 minutes to 2 hours. When necessary, we conducted follow-up conversations; in cases where the internet connection was poor, interviewees were also asked to write their answers and submit by e-mail.

Although skewed toward the organizations and people who provide services rather than the affected themselves, the sources were varied enough to enable triangulating different perspectives and complementary aspects. It also enabled the collection of a wide range of data, such as: the camp context, including the name, location, age, capacity, ownership, and distance to closest neighboring community; the approach to camp design both in start-up and mature stages; services and facilities available; the existing infrastructure including hygiene, electricity, and shops, education, health, and materials used; the usage of standards/guidelines; and the extent of integration with the host community. All collected data, including the tapes, notes, and summaries from the interviews, were stored in a database shared by the group of researchers.

The four cases were written up following a similar structure, including background and overview, and the three design dimensions. The insights from each case were then compared through cross-case analysis to shed further light on the research questions. Here, we could, for example, see that the local context has impact on camp design, and that there is often a difference in the approach between early vs mature stages. Furthermore, each identified challenge was discussed among the authors and coded. From multiple data analysis iterations using color coding, five categories of challenges emerged. These are presented in Table III and include examples related to the new approach identified in a least one of the cases. Naturally, more challenges were identified in cases where the new approach has been applied.

4. Empirical findings and analysis

This section presents data collection and analysis in three steps: general guidelines as a baseline for all camp design; findings from the four cases; and challenges.

4.1 General guidelines for camp design: UNHCR and Sphere standards

UNHCR guidelines, together with Sphere standards, constitute the basis for camp design concerning, for example, the size and type of shelter space, space for activities including sleeping and washing, care of infants, storage of food, and cooking and eating facilities. The guidelines also concern non-food items such as clothing, blankets, bedding materials, light and heating, equipment for cooking and eating, and tools for maintenance. Other standards include water supply, which should be minimum 15 liters per person per day, sanitation and hygiene promotions, nutrition, and health. These goods can be provided directly (in-kind) or through other interventions (cash). Camps typically contain health centers/hospital, child-friendly centers, water supply, public storage, workshops, vocational training center, schools, markets, and roads.

4.2 Time, space, and resource dimensions in the four cases

Bur-amino (ethiopia).

Ethiopia, whose population of 105 million currently experiences severe drought, ranks 173rd of 186 countries in the Human Development Index and is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies also focusing on sustainability (Green Climate Fund, 2017). The Government of Ethiopia has an open door policy and currently hosts more than 800,000 refugees, primarily from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan (UNHCR, 2017a). The majority resides in 25 camps located in eight different areas across the country (UNHCR Ethiopia, 2017), of which one is Bur-Amino.

Bur-Amino was opened in October 2011 in response to an influx of Somali refugees caused by drought and increased insecurity. The camp, with an original capacity for 25,000 people, was initially designed based on UNHCR and Sphere standards, with adaptations for host country requirements and context. One interviewee adds: “Unfortunately, because of the ongoing emergency situation at that time, the camp was planned as a ‘storage facility’ not as a settlement.” Although planned as a temporary shelter, the camp has become a long-term operation followed by the implementation of a transitional shelter strategy to provide more sustainable housing solutions, as well as the construction of some semi-permanent facilities like schools and health centers. In addition, the number of refugees has increased to 40,000, which has required continuous expansion and redesign of the camp.

UNHCR collaborates with multiple stakeholders including, for example, the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA, representing the Ethiopian Government), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), local organizations, the municipality, various contractors, and the refugees themselves. Initially, during the emergency influx, the refugees and local population were not consulted concerning camp design and there was neither a local development plan nor formal discussions with local officials on how to integrate the camp in the host community. However, with the prolongation and expansion of the camp, a community-based approach has been adopted including, for example, a recently established shelter-working group.

Bur-Amino does not have a mobile or physical-transport network, and access roads had to be constructed when establishing the camp. A natural resources rehabilitation project in the vicinity of soils harvesting sites for use in construction was also set up. The need for self-reliance necessitated the widening of plots and creating family gardens. The only existing water source for the entire population – the Genale river runs through the local community – was essential when choosing land for the camp, providing water supply for refugees and for construction. Since then, the water supply system has been improved and expanded to the host community as a permanent solution. Local resources accommodated during the planning decision included land deterioration and environmental protection. Most construction materials, such as eucalyptus and bamboo were procured locally, while cement and some hardware material were sourced from Addis-Ababa, about 870 km from the camp. Local workers, with relatively poor technical capacity, were hired for the construction of shelters and infrastructure, and therefore required regular technical assistance. The “compact bamboo wattle,” developed in 2012, was a waterproof, locally suitable transitional shelter that provided more privacy, while also saving on costs of material, logistics, and transportation.

In parallel with Bur-Amino, UNHCR has developed neighboring-communities support projects. First, the host community was welcomed to use water taps, health services, and schools in the camp while UNHCR constructed primary schools, solar street lighting, and sanitations facilities in the host community. Second, local materials, trucks, and communication networks are increasingly used in the camp operation. Third, there is an exchange of food and workers between the camp and the host community. An informal market has developed in the camp, and there is inter-marriage between the communities.

Kalobeyei (Kenya)

Kenya has a population of over 48 million. With a rapidly growing and young population, the country is experiencing great economic growth. Yet, recent severe drought has resulted in poor agricultural output and soaring food prices. Kenya currently ranks 146th of 186 countries in the Human Development Index with a poverty rate of about 39 percent. For the last few decades, the country has hosted close to 600,000 refugees from Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic Congo, Ethiopia, and other countries. The main camps include Dadaab and Kakuma. Having learned lessons from the poorly planned conditions with ad hoc development patterns of previous camps, which have also served as a catalyst for conflicts between host communities and refugees, UNHCR, and the Refugees Affairs Secretary agreed with the Turkana County Government in 2015 to develop a new settlement – Kalobeyei – to shift from the old approach. The new vision was to integrate refugees and members of the host community in an accessible, vibrant, and functional settlement, complete with adequate social and physical infrastructure to provide diverse economic and business opportunities. The Kalobeyei Integrated Social and Economic Development Program (KISEDP) was established in 2015 with a main objective of ensuring that the new settlement arrangement empowers refugee and host communities through self-reliance and livelihood opportunities. The idea is to have as many of the goods, services, and businesses as possible produced by, sourced from, and run by refugees and local community members in Kalobeyei, while progressively improving their quality of life, basic services, and opportunities for learning, enterprise, and employment.

In the context of promoting self-reliance of refugees and host communities, it was agreed to allocate 60 percent of the total space for development of economic activities, including agriculture. In addition to the influx of refugees, the host community is experiencing significant development in terms of devolution, resource discovery, and extraction of oil and freshwater aquifers in the county. Kalobeyei opened in June 2016 after significant preparatory activities including an environmental impact assessment, a hydrological survey for water availability, a topographical survey to determine terrain configuration and agricultural suitability of the soil, and a socio-economic baseline survey with area mapping of existing infrastructures and natural resources within and around the proposed site. Turkana county and most of the Kalobeyei area is historically an important grazing area to the pastoralists (60 percent of the local population), while others rely on rain-fed agriculture, irrigation, fishing, and mining, and other types of employment. Aligned with the county’s integrated development plan, the objective is to promote sustainable urban and agricultural/livestock development as well as socio-economic integration of approximately 60,000 refugees and 20,000 people in the host community.

Following UNHCR guidelines, an initial settlement master plan was prepared in May 2016 in a consultative manner involving all stakeholders in spite of the emergency situation caused by the influx of South Sudan refugees. Under the KISEDP framework, the Turkana County Government was to be involved in the settlement planning, development, monitoring, and evaluation, and to take over its management in the medium to long term. In this regard, a spatial-planning and infrastructure-development working group coordinated by UNHCR was established consisting of UN agencies and partners such as UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNOPS and UNICEF, Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), National Council of Churches of Kenya, Peace Winds Japan, Turkana Ministry of Lands, physical planning and urban areas management, Refugee Affairs Secretariat, and local organizations operating through UNHCR partnerships. In July 2016, UNHCR signed a memorandum of understanding with UN-Habitat to jointly collaborate with the Turkana County Government for the new settlement planning and other institutional and governance activities. Other working groups involved in the planning include the sustainable integrated service delivery and skills development group, the agriculture and livestock group, and the private sector and entrepreneurship group. The host and refugee communities’ vulnerabilities and integration potential were further analyzed. The National, County, and International Policy, Kenya Vision 2030, Kenyan National Spatial Plan, County Integrated Development Plan, Sustainable Development Goal 11 and The New Urban Agenda played instrumental roles in informing the planning.

Kalobeyei site is located in a semi-desert with high temperatures, and unreliable and low rainfall; there are few water-harvesting initiatives at the site. In order to supply water, three boreholes were drilled in 2016 and equipped with submersible pumps. Due to the emergency situation and the continued lack of a sustainable water-supply infrastructure, the refugees do not have individual connections and are instead served by communal taps with a minimum of 20 liters per person per day pending the development of permanent systems. In terms of housing, UNHCR has adopted a sustainable approach with interlocking-stabilized soil blocks (ISSBs), which allow upgrading and optimizing of the initial basic housing unit according to differing needs (e.g. size and culture). Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has introduced a restricted digital cash transfer program using mobile phones, which can be redeemed solely for food. The program is called “BAMBA CHAKULA,” which translates to “Get your food” in Kiswahili. WFP has also established a local trading market, with more than 300 local traders who make the food readily available to the refugees. Cash-based interventions have further allowed refugees and the host community to develop a community-based organization for ISSB production using skilled laborers, who are trained through vocational centers established in both communities. A permanent health post, and primary and secondary schools are constructed and will serve both communities.

Karkamis (Turkey)

Turkey, with a population over 80 million, is the 18th largest economy in the world based on GDP and ranks 71st out of 186 in the Human Development Index. The country shares a long border with Syria and hosts half of all Syrian refugees, approximately 2.8 million people. However, less than 10 percent (248,000) of these refugees live in one of the 23 designated camps, which fall under the responsibility of the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). AFAD coordinates camp management with the local governor’s office and T1urkish Red Crescent (TRC), the latter taking care of aid distribution logistics.

All camps, including Karkamis, have been designed following Sphere guidelines, accommodating 10,000 residents. Camps are not allowed to grow, and if more refugees apply to live in camps, AFAD decides when and where to open a new camp. When opening a new camp, the first task is to secure a water source. In the case of Karkamis, the camp is located next to the Karkamis Dam, 65 km from the nearest big city, and 3 km from the nearest village. Thereafter, the local municipality handles site preparation and the construction of infrastructure for water, sewage, electricity, and phone lines. TRC then takes charge of building the camp, neighborhood by neighborhood. In total, 40 workers built the entire Karkamis camp, including 2,000 tents, over a period of 40 days. One problem faced by the TRC was the lack of tents appropriate for long-term residency. This problem was resolved by funding from the Saudi Government to replace tents with containers, each with a space of 22 m 2 , two bedrooms and a living room, as well as a small garden in front of them. In mid-2017, 15 camps had been completely converted to container camps.

Karkamis camp includes a school, medical clinic, prayer room, laundry room, social space, grocery store, toilets/shower facilities, and central camp security. Schools give education in Arabic, and the refugees select the teachers from among themselves. Refugees cook their own food based on ingredients from the grocery store in the camp. Originally, TRC was providing food in every camp, but the amount of food waste was tremendous. As a result, TRC partnered with WFP to implement cash transfers and open a food market in each camp. They also distributed cooking supplies to each family. The new program was successfully tested in 2012 in Kilis and, as of today, all refugees have a smart card called KızılAy Kart that they can use to buy food. This approach allows TRC to save personnel and logistics costs while improving refugee satisfaction.

Due to security concerns, entry and exit to each camp is restricted. However, camp residents can apply for permission to leave the camp temporarily to handle personal affairs back in Syria or work in nearby towns in Turkey. AFAD asks the residents of each camp to pick a leader and spokesperson. Integration with the host country’s citizens has not been a problem around the camps, since most of the refugees have a relative in Turkey: Syrians across the Turkish border used to be part of the Ottoman Empire until borders were arbitrarily drawn after WWI. However, integration has proved to be more challenging for the refugees living outside of camps both because they are not related familywise and because there is competition for jobs and other resources. To alleviate this issue, TRC opened nine community centers in various cities around the country where they bring Syrian and Turkish people together.

Lagkadikia (Greece)

Greece, with a population of almost 11 million, is experiencing financial turbulence and declining GDP per capita. It has the highest unemployment rate – 25 percent in 2015 – in the Eurozone and currently ranks 29th of 186 countries in the Human Development Index. Since the beginning of the refugee crisis in 2015, over 1 million migrants and refugees have embarked on the dangerous journey to Greece, taking the route via Turkey and the Aegean Sea. Early on, a daily average of 2,000 new arrivals was registered on the Greek islands. Instead of staying in Greece, most transited further via Piraeus Port and Athens to other countries in Europe. In March 2016, however, the situation changed dramatically with the agreement of the EU-Turkey statement, and the closure of the Greece and Macedonia (FYRoM) border for all nationalities. Following these changes, the number of new arrivals to Greece decreased significantly. Those that do arrive remain for a longer time. As of December 19, 2016, there were 62,455 PoCs in Greece, of which 12,712 were hosted by UNHCR in approximately 50 accommodations across the islands and the mainland. One of these camps, Lagkadikia, is situated in the rural areas of Thessaloniki and falls under the responsibility of the Greek authorities. The camp was set up as part of emergency response in 2016, but later developed into a long-term site for 1,000 people. The site, which is an old military premise located approximately two kilometers from the neighboring municipality, currently hosts 239 refugees, primarily Syrian families (93 percent).

The original camp design of Lagkadikia was aligned with the existing military premises, and the camp has thereafter been developed section by section into a settlement with long-term focus. This design process has followed the SPHERE standards and Greek law, with all aspects of growth being controlled by UNHCR and approved by the government (involving e.g. Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Migration). In certain cases, non-governmental organizations such as the DRC and the International Rescue Committee have been involved in camp management and related activities. Reassessment and redesign of the camps only takes place when potential issues are encountered. One such example relates to the required winterization where all tents are replaced by containers. Another example is the ongoing project of connecting the camps (including containers, toilets, showers) to the external sewer systems and installing rainwater drainage systems. Only smaller decisions regarding camp design allow for a bottom-up approach involving the community. Examples include the renovation of certain buildings to accommodate communal activities such as an informal gym and prayer room in the center of the camp, and installing kitchen modules in each container.

UNHCR mostly applies cash-based interventions in the Greek camps. Instead of, for example, daily food distributions, PoCs prefer cooking and access markets, stores, and other facilities in the nearby towns by using public transportation. Refugees are welcomed by the neighboring municipalities, and are able to benefit from existing education and medical services. In return, UNHCR provides financial support to the host community, for example, by developing existing playgrounds, providing IT equipment to local schools, and offering medical care for both locals and refugees.

In summary, the four different camps represent a range of different approaches to camp design. Table II displays the findings from the exploratory multi-site study. Since Kalobeyei opened recently, we have not differentiated between early and mature stages. This camp was also the only one designed upfront using the new approach, whereas our analysis shows that Karkamis has been the most persistent in using the traditional approach. Bur-Amino has changed from the traditional to the new, whereas Lagkadikia, although to some extent having attempted resource sharing, seems to stick to the traditional approach.

4.3 Challenges to adopting the proposed new camp design approach

As revealed by, for example, the Bur-Amino case, the time pressure of saving lives and sometimes the beneficiaries’ lack of knowledge and skills can hinder a bottom-up settlement design process. Another critical aspect of the new approach is the long-term perspective, that is, building permanent settlements rather than temporary shelters. There are, however, political challenges at the international (UNHCR), national (host country’s attitude toward refugees), and local levels (provision of local resources and investment into infrastructure) that undermine long-term visions. The Lagkadikia case highlights this, with the Greek Government intending to evacuate refugees and instead using the camps as back-up solutions for their own future use. The long-term approach is made even more difficult due to the lack of proper infrastructure and shelter inventory. For example, in the Karkamis case, the TRC has built a camp using short-term shelter despite the knowledge that the armed conflict in Syria will not be resolved in the near future.

The new approach fosters an external-facing view of camp design where settlers are encouraged to integrate with the local host community and vice versa. However, as revealed in the Bur-Amino case, limited local resources, lack of local capacity to interact with, and lack of knowledge about, the refugee population, as well as a shortage of time to ease into such integration, all challenge implementing long-term settlement designs. Another is climate and access to raw material and basic resources. In the Kalobeyei case, the hot and dry climate exacerbates the pressure on the water supply infrastructure resulting from the increasing total population in the camp or local community. Expanding camps is also a challenge once the facilities and infrastructure have been designed in the first place. The cases indicate that managing growth is difficult due to a range of political, social, cultural, and physical constraints. While the requirements from local municipalities and global standards (e.g. Sphere) may sometimes clash, the social yarn of the refugees presents a bigger challenge. Refugees arrive often with serious psychological problems and practically without any possessions. Separately, poor local infrastructure makes operating and expanding a camp difficult. Infrastructure and resource problems directly affect integration with the host communities by hindering the two-way flow of know-how and resources. Table III summarizes the challenges into five categories developed based on the case analysis. Specific challenges are not linked with specific case design dimensions because most are root-cause challenges impacting more than one dimension.

5. Discussion and implications

First, the study shows that the proposed new approach representing a bottom-up, community-based approach to camp design is implemented only to a limited extent, particularly in the initial implementation phase. Karkamis and Lagkadikia reveal a strict top-down decision-making process. Also for Bur-Amino, the initial approach was controlled top-down. The only exception is Kalobeyei, where a large number of stakeholders, including the refugees and local community, influenced the initial camp design. Second, as camps mature, there is a shift toward the new approach, exemplified by the partnership agreements in Bur-Amino, where development increasingly accounts for the refugees’ perspectives and wishes. Also in the other cases, it is apparent that the camps are increasingly integrated with the local community as time goes by. However, the adoption of the new approach differs and seems to depend on a number of contextual factors. From the case studies, we see that, despite being set up as an emergency response, the two camps in Africa adopt a more permanent approach compared to the examples from Europe. Kalobeyei seems to be adopting something similar to the new approach, emphasizing socio-economic integration, extensive environmental impact assessments and alignment with local development plans. Meanwhile, Karkamis and Lagkadikia seem to follow a more traditional approach with fixed and controlled design and centralized decision making as in the mature stage, even if Lagkadikia has some aspects of the new approach.

The third insight is that a universal approach does not seem to be possible to adopt. In other words, one size does not fit all. Our study does not allow for in-depth analysis of which factors determine what approach, but the findings support the notion that certain factors are important in the initial phase, and another set must be considered as the camp matures. Political and cultural circumstances in the host country are important. The matter of urgency when camps are set up is also a key factor: the more rush, the more temporary and the less integrated the approach. Meanwhile, as illustrated by Kalobeyei, it appears that if the local community can benefit from the camp and its future development, there is a higher chance for enabling a long-term, community-based design approach.

Building on the second and third point, the fourth insight relates to the necessity of stepwise development, what could be termed an evolutionary model for camp design, depicted in Figure 1 .

Given the emergency setting of establishing refugee camps, the first focus is on establishing key facilities and road access, bring in food supplies, and secure access to water. Only in later phases when the operation and influx of refugees has stabilized can the focus be shifted to, for example, starting community-based groups, opening markets, implementing cash-transfer programs, and promoting camp design that facilitates movement between communities. Thus, to a certain extent, there appears to be a kind of paradox that separates the initial approach from how the camp is operated and further developed. Most countries view refugee crises as something temporary and therefore follow the traditional guidelines. As it turns out, many camps persist over time, and there seems to be a change in perspective as the camps develop. Accounting for the long-term perspective already in the initial phase would be ideal, but seems to be very difficult.

Related to the above discussion, the fifth insight is that there is a wide range of challenges that must be addressed to enable the new approach. In fact, the many challenges can partly explain its limited implementation. Some of the identified challenges appear to be particularly difficult to overcome, and relate to what we have termed contextual factors in the model. Examples include the time pressure to set up a camp in an emergency setting and the lack of willingness from the government to allow for long-term settlements and extended integration with local community. Other challenges appear to be more susceptible to influence. For example, there could be improved guidelines regarding the access to inventory (e.g. shelter) supporting a longer-term perspective. Also, the limited expertise of refugees and the local community seems responsive to increased training and local capacity building. Other challenges such as limited access to energy and water could be overcome by making use of new technology (e.g. solar power). Certain equipment, for example, used in health clinics, could also be produced locally using emerging 3D-printing technology. The lack of resources could generally be mitigated by supporting increased trade between the communities and across the regions where the camps are located. Successful examples to support this approach include establishment of large marketplaces and the use of cash-based interventions. On that note, the sixth insight from this study is that the two-way flows between camp and local community are a recent development. The two-way flows, represented, for example, by the joint investments and sharing of health, school services, water and energy infrastructure, increase once the camps become more permanent and established in the local community. Two-way flows can benefit refugees as well as the local community, and humanitarian aid can support both communities. For example, camps can supply water and markets while the local community can provide existing health education facilities and security.

6. Concluding remarks and further research

This paper aimed to increase our understanding of the proposed new approach to refugee camp design. Traditionally, camps are built as temporary holding shelters until reconstruction phase is finalized and the displaced can go back to their homes. However, long-term events with lasting impact are forcing us to rethink our approach to camp design. In this paper, we analyze the differences between the traditional and the new approach. Based on studies in four countries, we found that the new approach, although theoretically making perfect sense, faces some tough challenges. Our findings suggest that the new approach is implemented only to a limited extent, and mostly in a stepwise manner. As camps mature, there is a shift toward the new approach, but most camps are established using the traditional top-down, temporary, and isolated approach. The adoption depends on a number of factors making a universal design approach impossible. While our literature review indicates that local adaptations and long-term thinking have previously been evident, our study suggests that camps integrating with the society in which they are placed, in terms of exchange of services, is more recent. This poses some specific challenges, partly explaining the limited implementation of the new approach ( Table III ). The main theoretical contribution in this study is the analytical framework with its three key dimensions: time, space, and resources, and the way we have operationalized them ( Table I ). We tested the framework in our case analysis, and it proved useful for distinguishing camp designs. The necessity of differentiating between an early and mature stage led to a slightly revised framework, suggesting an evolutionary perspective ( Table II and Figure 1 ).

In terms of managerial implications, practitioners can use the insights we derived and the challenges we identified to better plan for future camps. The findings can help them to understand which conditions/contexts are required to enable a design based on the new approach. For example, camp design guidelines must be developed to fit with the empirical reality rather than vice versa, for example, for urban displacement and out-of-camp living ( CCCM Cluster, 2014 ), dignified reception ( NORCAP, 2016 ), and site planning to reduce gender-based violence ( Shelter Cluster, 2016 ). At time of this writing, a group of international organizations including IOM, IFRC, UNOPS, NRC, and others was developing a new manual for physical camp design and construction ( www.globalcccmcluster.org/categories/news ).

This study provides an initial understanding of the new approach to camp design, but more research is needed to provide normative advice on specific design principles. First, a natural extension of our research would be the validation of our case-driven insights with further empirical research, both in depth and breadth. More in-depth studies of the hosting countries themselves in terms of politics, culture, resources, etc., are also necessary to improve the understanding of the countries’ differences and similarities and how such contextual factors influence camp development. In particular, the trade-off between a permanent solution and the temporary must be accounted for. Furthermore, research is needed to establish a deeper understanding of what we have identified seem to be an evolutionary model for camp design. Questions to be answered include who are the actors involved at the different stages, what additional activities and resources come in focus as time goes by, what factors (contextual and others) impact on the development, and how can they be influenced for the new approach to be adopted. Second, the challenges we identified clearly highlight that camp design and management is not just a logistical problem, but rather is an interdisciplinary issue. The warehouse theory is an interesting theoretical perspective to use in further research on improving camp designs, but will capture only some aspects. Thus, research on camp design should also be interdisciplinary. For example, if refugee camps are to be long-term human settlements, it makes sense that urban planners and architects be an essential part of the process to provide an effective and sustainable design ( Jacobs, 2017 ). “In the long run, refugees are an asset, not a liability – an economic benefit that can help revitalize a region, not a drain on resources” ( Jacobs, 2017 ). This type of research can also make use of the industrial network theory for analysis of the interconnectedness between activities, actors, and resources. The social network theory provides yet another interesting avenue for future research. Furthermore, socio-political factors playing a role in camp design require knowledge from political science and the organizational theory.

A proposed evolutionary model of camp design

Framework with operationalizations for data collection and analysis

Overview of empirical findings from the multi-site study

Challenges to adopting the proposed new camp design approach

List of anonymized interviewees

Appendix 1. Interview guide

Appendix 3. Secondary data on cases

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Johan Christofferson and Erik Müller for helping out with part of the data collection, and also anonymous reviewers and the editors for constructive comments in improving the paper.

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Front matter, 1: introduction, 2: guested sovereignty and camp governance, 3: we live here, 4: portable homeland, 5: node of connection and place of opportunities, 6: urbanizing camp, urbanizing borderland, 7: conclusion, references; annex 1; summary; samenvatting, disclaimer/complaints regulations.

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Lessons Learned from Refugee Camps: From Fetishizing Design to Researching, Drawing, and Co-Producing

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This chapter explores cases when a design-oriented approach can be harmful, especially if it shifts the attention from refugees’ needs and complex realities toward producing “successful” and “innovative” solutions as determined by the expectations of the field of architecture. To illustrate this point, the author discusses examples from workshops and seminars tackling urban and spatial issues regarding refugees. As a successful model and counterpoint, the chapter demonstrates how a successful process includes the active involvement of refugees and a collaborative approach toward fulfilling their needs. Additionally, the chapter illustrates how a research-oriented approach to architectural design can powerfully raise awareness about the complex spatial realities that refugees face in exile, citing examples from studios and design workshops conducted in refugee camps in Jordan and Berlin. Finally, the chapter underscores the last point, by giving further examples from a seminar taught to students in the Urban Studies program at Vassar College.

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In April 2021, I received an email from a student seeking help and advice to complete his bachelor’s degree in architecture at a German university. He asked, “In your opinion, and as an expert, how does one design a better refugee camp?” He shared an extensive table where he broke down the various dimensions of a camp into categories (security, participation, fences, shelter, etc.)—an approach that is widely common in architectural schools and used to unpack the complexities of an urban space. I could not think of a good answer. I was trying to be diplomatic and careful, but eventually I could not. I asked him, “Why do you want to design a better camp? Camps are like prisons where people are contained and trapped for an unknown period of time. Where people are managed like objects and squeezed into small spaces. It is like a prison where people are controlled. Do you want to design a prison?” I was aware of my exaggerated tone, but I saw it as necessary to challenge the assumption that designing is always the correct solution, no matter the problem.

The notion of power is often addressed in universities, but is seldom an area of focus within architectural curricula. This is because architects are expected to excel in providing creative and aesthetically pleasing solutions to customers. We are so focused on the solutions that sometimes we forget to ask: For whom is this being built, and for what purpose? How do our designs affect society and empower or disempower certain groups within it? The focus is the design—this is what the architect sells. The issues with this design-based approach become more apparent when architects aim to tackle the refugee “problem.” The questions that are rarely asked are: Do we always need to build? And if we are not wielding our pens and papers to design, what can architects and planners do?

In this chapter I show how a design-oriented approach can be harmful for shifting the attention from refugees’ needs and complex realities toward producing “successful” and “innovative” solutions as determined by the expectations of the field of architecture. To illustrate this point, I will give several examples from workshops and seminars tackling urban and spatial issues regarding refugees. As a successful model and counterpoint, I will show how a successful process includes the active involvement of refugees, and a collaborative approach toward fulfilling their needs. Additionally, I will illustrate how a research-oriented approach to architectural design can be very powerful and has the capacity to raise awareness about the complex spatial realities that refugees face in exile. To do so, examples from studios and design workshops conducted in refugee camps in Jordan and Berlin will be presented. Finally, I will re-emphasize the last point, by giving further examples from a seminar I taught to students in the Urban Studies program at Vassar College.

Architecture and Refugees

Historically speaking, the involvement of architects with refugee issues was limited to their role in spatial practice and design around issues of shelter. Ian Davis, at Oxford University, for instance, engaged his students in the 1970s in the challenges of shelter design. One of his main suggestions was the need to shift from designing shelter as a product to thinking about the process of sheltering where local materials and labor markets need to be deployed (Davis 1977 ). Although Davis continued to be involved in matters of shelter design with humanitarian actors and relief agencies (Davis 2011 ), in general, architects were frequently pushed to the margin in humanitarian circles. “People laugh at me here. I sometimes question the validity of what we learned in university,” confessed a site planner in a refugee camp, working at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “Our knowledge seems invalid,” he continued. This prevailing sentiment has been explored in the work of Tom Scott-Smith ( 2017 , 67), who points out the “humanitarian-architect” division where “humanitarians are minded to see architects as utopian dreamers, completely out of touch with the realities of the field and the needs of beneficiaries.” This explains why the words “architecture” and “architectural” are mentioned only once or twice in humanitarian catalogs like Shelter After Disaster or the Sphere Handbook (see Breeze 2020 ).

However, architecture and urban studies can play important roles in understanding refugees’ multifaceted experiences. The movement of populations across the globe due to wars, conflicts, lack of resources, environmental hardship, or what can be described as a “massive loss of habitat” (Sassen 2016 ) results in the production of new types of urban spaces by refugees. Displaced populations contribute to the production of cities, the urbanization of camps, and the appropriation of neighborhoods in which they live. They bring different types of spatial knowledge into the new environment in which they find themselves. Yet a nuanced understanding of refugee spaces is still lacking. According to Romola Sanyal, “refugee spaces are emerging as quintessential geographies of the modern, yet their intimate and everyday spatialities remain under-explored.” Architecture as a discipline can play an important role in this process ( 2014 , 558). To highlight this point, I will illustrate case studies in which a design-oriented approach to refugee space proves problematic, and others where an architecturally and politically informed research-oriented approach seems to harness better results and empower refugees in their context. I will begin with the design-oriented approach.

A Design-oriented Approach in Al-Husn Refugee Camp in Jordan

In 2016, while I was working with the Department of International Urbanism and Design (Habitat Unit) at the Technische Universität (TU) in Berlin, Germany, my colleagues and I were invited to conduct a workshop in Al-Husn camp in Jordan, where 25,000 Palestinian refugees have lived since 1967. The prolongation of exile has gradually transformed the camp from a set of temporary shelters into an urban environment. The hosting institution was the GIZ (the German Agency for International Cooperation), which was then collaborating with UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) on a project concerning the Greening of Refugee Camps. The need for greening camps came out of the CIP (Camp Improvement Program), a pilot project introduced in refugee camps for the first time, aiming to upgrade their urban structures (Hanafi and Misselwitz 2010 ). The design studio we put together consisted of about fifteen master’s students enrolled in the Department of Architecture at the TU Berlin and about fifteen undergraduate students from the University of Petra in Jordan, who participated during the workshop only. During the workshop, the students were first welcomed by GIZ, who funded the project, and were introduced to four initiatives that were run by different CBOs (Community Based Organizations), and which received funding to implement greening projects in the camp.

In that context, and as architects, we were asked to suggest how these urban initiatives can be developed and expanded further. In other words, the design studio was meant to function as a “think tank” for GIZ and the funded initiatives. This design-oriented approach prevented us from fully understanding the context and, instead, stuck us in the middle of an established web of power relations, where our position was the “provider of solutions.” Although we were introduced earlier to the camp and the CBOs, we knew little about the internal politics of these CBOs and the motivations for their initiatives. The short schedule of the workshop (10 days) made the design-oriented approach very challenging. Groups of students were meant to support the CBOs in their initiatives, but, in effect, they hindered CBOs’ efforts because they were seen as support that no one had asked for. As we came to understand later, none of the CBOs was actually interested in “greening,” the main focus of our project. As one refugee woman on the periphery of the camp explained: “Who are these people [CBOs], I never heard of them, and no, they haven’t done anything for us here.”

Trapped between GIZ, who invited us, and the CBO leaders, who played along but had very little interest in design, we were expected to “produce” and to serve an already established agreement between GIZ and the local CBOs. We also felt the urge to “design something” for refugees and thus accomplish something positive. Moreover, many of the areas of intervention and project development were selected earlier and imposed on the camp. The area around a girls’ school was to be “greened,” and an empty area on the periphery of the camp was also to be improved by planting a garden. When attempting to do a quick workshop with girls at the school, their first objection was: “but we don’t want to have a garden here. The boys will come from outside and destroy it.” Similarly, while sitting with one of the committee members in the camp management, the students were frustrated; he looked at the plans with suspicion. “We can’t open the park at night,” he commented. “This park should stay closed, as the neighbors wouldn’t like it to be a place for unwanted naughtiness at night.” The fetishization of architects as doers, solution-finders, and beautifiers clashed with the reality of the space. Surely, this is not the first experience within the context of architectural education where designing fails, but it is important to ask: When should architects refrain from interfering and let go? When is it better not to engage their architectural capacities? It even urges us to ask: Can we really believe that architectural design can provide “universal solutions” that could be parachuted everywhere and anytime? Would architecture really work amid a set of hidden power relations that might be prevalent in a certain place (see Al-Nammari 2013 )?

My argument here is not to avoid designing. Rather, my aim is to always be aware of the political contours and powers through which design operates, and to ensure that the architectural imagination can be helpful and offer creative solutions to communities in need. In another workshop in Jerash camp, the results were exactly the opposite. The CBOs needed support, and the designs were implemented as first steps toward anticipated funding. Both the CBO and the community in the camp saw the designs as a source of empowerment. Many of the conducted projects within that context were embraced by the community and developed further. Thus, a design-oriented approach can be useful when it seeks to empower refugees and fulfill their daily needs and expectations. It works when refugees express their need for support, rather than outsiders assuming what their needs are. Also, in contrast to Al-Husn camp, which is more urbanized, Jerash camp is more impoverished. The inhabitants there are ex-Gazan refugees who have limited rights in Jordan (Al-Husseini 2010 ). Because of that, the government enforced restrictions on the built environment; use of concrete slabs was limited (to avoid permanence), and zinc roofs are very common.

Some of the suggested projects were designed to deal with these obstacles. For instance, the students developed a low-budget water heating system and insulation system that were applauded and praised by the refugee community in the camp (see Fig. 1 ). This shows that a design-oriented approach within the refugee context can be indeed beneficial and powerful, but only when it responds to urgent issues and demands coming from within the refugee community itself, and when the approach is not imposed on them by external institutions or actors. At times, these impositions can come from architectural schools, or from architects who want to “prove” that their ideas can serve the community.

A simple system for heating water and insulating the zinc roofs developed specifically for and with refugees in Jerash camp (Source: Students of TU Berlin, 2016)

An example of that is an “innovative” tent that a local architect designed for refugees. The design was for a weaving technique that would allow rainwater to be stored on the outer surface of the tent, while also preserving solar energy. As “innovative” as this design might appear, it overlooks the main challenge: a refugee tent is a suspension of the individual’s “right to dwell” (see Dalal 2022 ; Dalal et al. 2021a , b ), putting them in a state of permanent temporariness (instead of just providing shelter for a few days). It gradually oppresses people’s everyday need for privacy and forces families to live together in one single space for an unknown period of time.

In contrast to a design-oriented approach that tends to overlook refugees’ needs and demands, I suggest that a research-oriented and politically informed practice is much more powerful when working in a refugee context, as shown by an example from a research-based studio conducted in Berlin (Fig. 2 ).

Workshop between the students and the refugee community in Jerash camp (Source: Author, 2015)

A Research-oriented Approach in Tempohomes (Berlin)

Architects do not always prioritize social or cultural knowledge of a particular space, because architecture is perceived as an artistic practice. As more and more architects become engaged with this kind of research, however, it is worth shedding light on the importance of this understanding within the context of refugee housing.

In 2018, LAF (the State Office for Refugee Affairs in Berlin) approached us, asking for feedback regarding their design of “Tempohomes,” new types of refugee camps built specifically for Berlin. For students to sign up for the research-oriented studio, they had to provide drawings and sketches that illustrated their analytical skills. Many of their initial design ideas and drawings revealed “stereotypical” judgments of refugees or homeless people. These early drawings reflected superficial observations and knowledge of people who appeared very “different” or were living under “precarious conditions.”

The research-based seminar began by teaching students about research methods developed in the social sciences, such as semi-structured interviews, participatory observations, and walk-along interviews. During the study, the students applied these methods to understand better how refugees “live” in the containers of the Tempohomes, which are similar to the containers used on construction sites. “We are always asked to make drawings, but not usually asked to explain them in writing,” I said, while showing the students slides of how they can structure an argument by writing—something architecture students might never learn in a class. We were able to produce an elaborate report about Tempohomes: their spatial structure, how they are used and experienced by refugees, and how refugees appropriated the space. “This is the first time I have done something like that,” commented one of the students. “Research allowed me to understand better what refugees endure in these containers. Things I would have never imagined.”

In contrast to a design-oriented approach, a research-oriented approach for architects in the refugee context allows them to use their spatial analytical skills to understand what can be a complex setting. They can then recognize the powers at play and the impact of the design, before suggesting a design of their own. As one student commented, “refugees suffer from the materiality of this container, they are too hot in summer and very cold at night!” A research-oriented approach to the refugee issue allows architectural students to empathize with refugees, to make connections to their own experiences and struggles instead of making uninformed judgments. It also contextualizes their skills and knowledge and leads them to make politically informed decisions. Students’ sharpened insights became apparent during their discussions with the State Office for Refugee Affairs. “They don’t like to hear that their design is not good,” one student noticed. The students became aware not only of the power of their observations and analytical drawings, but also of their impact on the politics of refugee accommodation at large. “When is our report going to be published?” many of the students demanded, even as debates with the LAF continued, delaying publication (Fig. 3 ). Footnote 1

A visual documentation of how a refugee family utilizes space in a Tempohome container (Source: Antonia Noll and Christina Hartl, 2018)

Finally, I would like to emphasize that these conversations need not wait until students reach graduate school. Critical, informed conversations about the role of design and designers can, and must, happen in the undergraduate classroom as well. In a Spring 2021 seminar on Refugees and Urban Space taught digitally to a dozen students at Vassar College, I took advantage of the remote format imposed on us by the pandemic to bring a much wider variety of speakers to class than would normally be possible. The course asked students to explore how refugees contribute to urbanization processes and can reshape the ways neighborhoods are built. Temporary shelter and camp spaces host clashes between the different visions and needs of local officials, humanitarian agencies, and newly arrived residents looking to establish a sense of home in an often-permanent but always precarious space. One student, reflecting on the experience of hearing speakers’ insights on collaborations with refugees and camp officials, noted that she was able to understand, and hold in tension, the clean lines of designs and diagrams with the “messiness of human cooperation.” Given that refugees, camp officials, and designers may arrive with very different experiences, expectations, and ways of talking and working, it is important that students and burgeoning designers and researchers be prepared to challenge their assumptions and explore new perspectives in the undergraduate classroom.

Another student commented that this class was an important one, unlike any other he had taken at Vassar:

Ayham once spoke about how the course, which gathered students across several disciplines at Vassar, required that he and the students meet in the middle in terms of the media we used. Accustomed to working with TU Berlin students who had a firm grasp on architectural visualization, Ayham had to continually adapt the syllabus to engage liberal arts students, many of whom had far more experience writing than drawing. He never surrendered the value of thinking about the spatial-technical arenas of displacement through visuals and graphics, but he encouraged deliverables that put texts in conversation with other tools and media (e.g. architectural practices, mapping, archival work) to make use of our strengths. A thorough and exact syllabus Ayham had offered at the start of the semester gave way to a course that we had created collectively and iteratively. I got the sense from Ayham that it would be a shame for camp studies to be consumed by the technical, or become the domain solely of architects and planners, and the shape of our class resisted just that possibility.

Returning to the anecdote that opened this chapter, the experience of taking a research-oriented, multidisciplinary approach to refugee shelter and housing might have prevented the student from asking, “how to design a better camp,” and might have prompted him to instead wonder, “what can we architects do to make refugees’ lives better in these camps?” While the first question is a provocation that revolves around a naïve attempt to “fix problems” out there through designs, the second one is informed by the political and existential struggles of refugees in camps and urban areas. This second framing prompts a much larger challenge: “How can architectural education and practice contribute to redressing the spatial injustices and inequalities we witness around us?”

We need design. The world cannot go without it. Imagination, creativity, and fantasy are needed to make the world enjoyable. Yet we also need to think about the impact of such provocations and designs, especially on people who struggle to meet daily needs and secure basic human rights. Research, although not common among architects, is a way to bring the students closer to complex realities. We must encourage future practitioners to unpack, question, and understand complex matters, and make their designs well-informed about the entangled web of relations, hardships, and opportunities in which refugees and other marginalized and colonized populations find themselves.

Eventually, the report was published as a book under the title Tempohomes: Untersuchung sozial-räumlicher Aneignungspraktiken von Geflüchteten in ausgewählten Berliner Gemeinschaftsunterkünften by the Berlin University Press in 2022.

Further Reading

Dalal, Ayham. From Shelters to Dwellings: The Zaatari Refugee Camp. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. 2022.

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Tayob, Huda. “Subaltern Architectures: Can Drawing “Tell” a Different Story?,” Architecture and Culture , 6 (1): 2018. 203–222, https://doi.org/10.1080/20507828.2017.1417071 .

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Al-Nammari, Fatima. “Participatory Urban Upgrading and Power: Lessons Learnt from a Pilot Project in Jordan.” Habitat International 39: 2013. 224–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.01.001 .

Petti, Alessandro, Sandi Hilal, and Eyal Weizman. Architecture after Revolution . Berlin: Sternberg Press. 2013.

Works Cited

Al-Husseini, Jalal. “The Management of the Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan between Logics of Integration and Exclusion.” SSRN Electronic Journal (January 2010). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2166837 .

Breeze, Mark. “Towards Better Shelter: Rethinking Humanitarian Sheltering.” In Structures of Protection? Rethinking Refugee Shelter , edited by Tom Scott-Smith and Mark Breeze, 287–300. Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2020.

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Dalal, Ayham, Petra Heber and Leticia Palomino. “Between Securitization, Appropriation, and the Right to Dwell: A Multiscalar Analysis of Azraq Camp” in Inhabiting Displacement: Architecture and Authorship, edited by Shahd Seethaler-Wari, Somayeh Chitchian and Maja Momic. Zürich: Birkhäuser. 2021.

Dalal, Ayham, Aline Fraikin and Antonia Noll. “Appropriating Berlin’s Tempohomes” in Spatial Transformations: Kaleidoscopic Perspectives on the Refiguration of Spaces, edited by Angela Million, Christian Haid, and Ignacio Castillo Ulloa. New York/London: Routledge. 2021.

Dalal, Ayham. From Shelters to Dwellings: The Zaatari Refugee Camp . Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. 2022.

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Davis, Ian. “Emergency Shelter.” Disasters 1: 1977. 23–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.1977.tb00006.x .

———. “What Have We Learned from 40 Years’ Experience of Disaster Shelter?” Environmental Hazards 10(3-4): 2011. 193–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2011.597499 .

Hanafi, Sari, and Philipp Misselwitz. “Testing a New Paradigm: UNRWA’s Camp Improvement Programme.” Refugee Survey Quarterly 28 (2-3): 2010. 360–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdp039 .

Sanyal, Romola. “Urbanizing Refuge: Interrogating Spaces of Displacement.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 38 (2): 2014. 558–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12020 .

Sassen, Saskia. “A Massive Loss of Habitat: New Drivers for Migration.” Sociology of Development 2 (2): 2016. 204–33. https://doi.org/10.1525/sod.2016.2.2.204.

Scott-Smith, Tom. “The Humanitarian-Architect Divide.” Forced Migration Review , Shelter in Displacement, 55: 2017. 67–68.

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Dalal, A. (2023). Lessons Learned from Refugee Camps: From Fetishizing Design to Researching, Drawing, and Co-Producing. In: Murray, B., Brill-Carlat, M., Höhn, M. (eds) Migration, Displacement, and Higher Education. Political Pedagogies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12350-4_11

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Refugee camps: in search of the locus of the accountability of the united nations high commissioner for refugees (unhcr) under international law.

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In this dissertation, I investigate the question how, and to what extent, can the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) be held accountable, under international law, for its contribution to the harms to the environment and lives of refugees resulting from refugee encampment in refugee camps that it helps create, fund, and manage? Using data from primary and secondary sources and borrowing from certain theoretical paradigms and schools of thought, I theorise about the policy-context; the decision-making processes that produce refugee encampment; the locus of accountability for the injurious consequences of refugee encampment in refugee-hosting states in the global south; the international rules and principles for protecting refugees and the environment; the rules and principles constituting the regime of accountability under international law; and the strengths and limitations of the regime. I identify observable implications that flow from each theoretical proposition I posit and buttress these with evidence from both primary and secondary sources. I demonstrate that the UNHCR is the architect of refugee encampment in many refugee-hosting states in the global south and show how it appropriates the framework governance of these states on refugee policy and practice. I argue that accountability for the consequences of refugee camps on the environment, refugees, and host communities must, therefore, follow the locus of power and be laid upon the author of the framework decisions that produce refugee encampment. My central thesis is that because the UNHCR, albeit a subsidiary organ of the United Nations (UN), is an independent actor on the international plane, with considerable influence, it should be held accountable for its authorship of the framework decisions which produce refugee encampment, resulting in harm to the environment and damage to the lives of refugees living under deplorable conditions of encampment; some for over twenty-five years. I conclude that, in theory at least, the UNHCR can be held accountable, under international law, using two possible legal routes: (a) internationally wrongful acts, and (b) liability for injurious consequences of activities that international law does not prohibit. In practice, however, both legal routes have have gaps or limitations.

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In September 2020, camp Moria was completely destroyed by a fire. Due to European migration policy, the living conditions were abysmal, causing harm to refugees as well as the host community. The aim of the project is to create a non-site specific architectural model, framework and strategy for a design of a refugee camp on how quality can be created with very little means, addressing the existing problems within the current refugee camp design (approach). It is an exploration on the possibilities within the realm of architecture to alleviate to alleviate the suffering of the refugees as well as the disconnect between the refugees and the host community. With this, it can become a part in the larger discourse of refugees/camps, and hopefully giving policy makers and all involved a different look on the whole matter. First is the need to see refugee camps as something permanent, instead of a temporary solution to a ‘problem’ that will end. The initial framework/design of the camp needs to account for future expansion and development. The focus is on a bottom-up design approach which involves the refugees as well as the host community in the planning and construction process. Co-creation, the ability for the refugee to make changes to their homes according to their own needs, control over their own lives, interdependence (social and economic) between the host community and refugee camp, and fostering (economic) activity of these two parties involved are of essence. To kickstart this, straw is being used as a low-tech self-buildable construction material to create quality dwellings, improving on the living conditions in European refugee camps. Being a low-tech material, refugees can be involved in the building process. What’s more, Straw is a by-product of cereal crops. Cereal crops in turn can be used to produce food. This two-fold application of food/building construction can help refugees to be (economically) active by cultivating cereal by processing these crops into food, and the straw into buildings. On the flip-side, the building process and cultivation of cereal could benefit the local economy as well. Third, using this cultivation and processing of this crop to food or construction of buildings, can also be points of exchange, collaboration and interaction between host community and refugee. Shown is a base model, idea and strategy, which can be used anywhere in the world. In this specific project, it is adapted to the terrain and climate of Lesvos. By actively engaging refugees in the building of the city and giving (economic) opportunities, we challenge the view (rethinking part) from seeing them as a liability or threat and something ‘temporary’ to people who should be treated with respect and in a humane way. All the while fostering integration and cohesion with surroundings.

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Situating Adult Learning and Education in Refugee Livelihood Adaptation and Progression Toward Self-Reliance: The Case of Refugees in the Kyaka II Settlement in Southwestern Uganda

Afghan immigrant women's food security in farahzad and shahrerey, the material and cultural recovery of camels and camel husbandry among sahrawi refugees of western sahara, the challenges to refugee food self-reliance in kyangwali refugee settlement as an approach to refugee self-reliance in uganda, exile, camps, and camels: recovery and adaptation of subsistence practices and ethnobiological knowledge among sahrawi refugees, 44 references, food aid and livelihoods: challenges and opportunities in complex emergencies, challenges to the effective implementation of microfinance programmes in refugee settings, lessons from a protracted refugee situation, no solution in sight : the problem of protracted refugee situations in africa - escholarship, international refugee aid and social change in northern mali, the right to food in situations of armed conflict: the legal framework, africa's refugees: patterns, problems and policy challenges, a "safety-first" approach to physical protection in refugee camps, refugee camps reconsidered, related papers.

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Architecture of refugee camps

“ It is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks. “― Nadia Hashimi.

An overwhelming number of people are forced out of their homelands yearly, with the crisis only worsening at an unprecedented pace. An immediate response to the emergency, refugee camps are designed as temporary means to house those exiled without any faults on their own. Unfortunately, the conflicts and threats that banished them didn’t get solved immediately, and these camps evolved into permanent places of residence for countless people. With this, it has become necessary to accommodate longer stays in the refugee camps such that the architecture of these camps address the complexity and diversity of these long-term settlements, transcending their transient nature and evolving into a sanctuary that better addresses the nature and aspirations of its inhabitants and enables a dignified life in these shelters through spatial empowerment and architectural interventions.

Refugee: A Figure

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that the number of globally forced displaced people crossed 103 million in mid-2022, among which 53.2 million are internally displaced, and 32.5 million are refugees. 

As of mid-2022, there are 4.9 Million Asylum seekers and 5.3 Million people in need of international protection. Out of 89.3 million people forcibly displaced at the end of 2021, 36.5 (41%) were children under 18. An average of between 350,000 and 400,000 children were born into a refugee life yearly between 2018 and 2021.

Amidst these grand numbers, 162,300 refugees returned to their home countries by mid-2022, while 42,300 people were resettled. 74% of the resettled refugees and others in need of international protection are hosted in low- and middle-income nations. The true figures of the refugees and other people in need of international asylum are estimated to be significantly larger. These figures are expected to grow larger in number and threaten the dignified and safe living of a large population of individuals with the conflicts that displaced them in the first place not showing any signs of improvement, which is why it has become imperative for those of us in safe comforts of our home to open doors and help integrate them into our socio-cultural as well as economic fabric.

An individual’s association with a place derives from their sense of belonging, identity, and security, in a process called “homemaking”. The spaces in refugee camps must allow for safe spaces where an individual can form a sense of identity relative to the space through habits, shared functions, community life, and a sense of normalcy, which are often lacking in the camps of the present. Rather than being in a constant state of impermanence and flux, these camps must be a sanctuary of everyday practices and customs with dedicated spaces housing these behavioural patterns. Thus rather than focusing on the emergency state and temporary nature of the refugee camps, the architecture of the refugee camps asks to be addressed in the context of ordinary everyday life. The normalcy absent in the lives of those forced out of their nests ought to be the element that one seeks to achieve as a designer.

Newer models of refugee camps are giving back the power to realise the shelters they would be living in. Some of these allow the occupants themselves to build the shelters they would be living in with the available local building materials, while some allow lightweight modular designs of shelters that provide flexibility and mobility in design. Involving the occupants in the maintenance and expansion of the camps in a holistic approach allows them to associate deeper with the camps and find a sense of home within. Furthermore, allowing the members of the camp to achieve basic facilities like education, health care, security, and a space to practice their religion or other ways to heighten spiritual health within the camp area or in close vicinity with unobstructed access needs to be ensured at all times. Social structures, gender concerns, inclusivity, information, privacy, and universality in design are also concepts that are yet to be embodied in the architecture of refugee camps.  

Assimilation with Society 

Although refugees do not always hold the same status as regular citizens, it would prove counterintuitive to build them shelters far from sight in an isolated system detached from the rest of the urban fabric. The feeling of alienation would always follow the refugees and as such, they live to end up living as visitors in a state of ephemerality at all times, in a state of homelessness, abjection, and limbo. The spatial dynamics of the camps need to be such that it facilitates a dynamic exchange between the refugees and the rest of society. Be it through the selection of the site, the blurring of the boundaries, or the amalgamation of shared facilities and activities; deliberate attempts demand to properly assimilate these microcosms of refugee camps into the pre-existing urban fabric.

Refugees are people no different than us in soul or ambitions, only with an unfortunate turn of fates that led them to a life of crisis, refuge, impermanence, and insecurity. As harsh as it may sound, most shelters designed to address the current refugee crisis are fundamentally misguided. Since these crises are occurring out of sight and far away, refugee camps of the present are mostly acting as visible as well as invisible barriers that hinder the occupants’ ability to assimilate properly with the rest of society.

A Tale of Endurance  

Today the “refugee camp” model has failed in terms of becoming a means of transitional assistance as commonly understood in the humanitarian assistance paradigm, with the camps being perceived as a non-place, a barrier to keep without rather than bring within those displaced due to conflicts and violence in national and international level. And since countless of the present refugee camps have existed long before establishing humanitarian camp planning guidelines, they still need to be improved on several fronts. Despite this, Refugee Camps are now becoming a part of everyday society, with over 94 countries housing refugees in some form of settlement or other. A microcosm within our society, these camps are gradually metamorphosing from temporary habitation to a hub of everyday life with its processes and systems, an informal city of its own

Refugee Camps are not just objects; they are a prolonged and significant event in human civilisation that demands materialization through architecture. Only through proper architectural language and storytelling can the ephemeral nature of this “transitional” shelter become something more than just an emergency shelter transcending the ever-present state of inconsistency and limbo.

UNHCR. (2022). Refugee Statistics [online] Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/#:~:text=At%20the%20end%20of%202021,below%2018%20years%20of%20age.&text=Between%202018%20and%202021%2C%20an,a%20refugee%20life%20per%20year. [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022]

Sciepub. (2022). Redefining Refugee Camps as Livable Cities (Case Study: Saveh Refugee Camp) [online] Available at: pubs.sciepub.com/ajcea/6/1/1/index.html [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022]

Architectural Review. (2022). Building refuge: from emergency shelter to home [online] Available at: https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/housing/building-refuge-from-emergency-shelter-to-home [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022]

Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. (2022). Architecture and History in a Refugee Camp [online] Available at: https://wiser.wits.ac.za/content/architecture-and-history-refugee-camp-13903 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022]

Sagepub. (2022). Constructing “purgatory”: How refugee camp architecture inscribes refugees into the a-political, a-historical, and moveable – Áine Josephine Tyrrell, 2021 [online] Available at: https://wiser.wits.ac.za/content/architecture-and-history-refugee-camp-13903 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022]

Architect Magazine. (2022). Rethinking the Refugee Camp [online] Available at: https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/rethinking-the-refugee-camp [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022]

An architecture and art enthusiast, Rashmi Gautam, is an Architecture Student from Nepal in search of her own expression in forms of words and design. Finding solace in the company of literature, art and architecture, she can be found brooding in the nearest library or museum.

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7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence

Professor of Anthropology, University of Chittagong

Disclosure statement

Nasir Uddin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighboring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have faced dire living conditions while clustered into the world’s most crowded refugee camps.

Since 2017, their status has been continually challenged by both intermittent hostility from within Bangladesh and an ongoing civil war in Myanmar, during which the military government has continued to crack down on the Rohingya’s homeland in Rakhine state .

But recent events in Bangladesh may offer a glimmer of hope for the Rohingya. Months of political unrest led to the ouster of the authoritarian prime minister , Sheikh Hasina, whose government failed to find a solution to the refugee problem.

The new interim government leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to defend their rights as refugees and work to secure their eventual repatriation.

As a scholar who has written about the Rohingya crisis and spent time in the refugee camps, I believe the odds are still stacked against the Rohingya. Policymakers must contend not only with growing hostility among Bangladesh’s local population and the ongoing Myanmarese civil war, but also with an underappreciated third factor that challenges a political resolution to the crisis: ongoing and growing violence and infighting among Rohingya refugees.

Murder, rape and kidnapping

More than 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 after facing a brutal government crackdown. Since then, around 235 Rohingyas have been killed in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In addition, there have been dozens of cases of rape against Rohingya girls and women and scores of kidnappings recorded by the Bangladeshi authorities.

The killing of high-profile people among the refugee population, including the 2021 assassination of Mohib Ullah , a moderate Rohingya leader, has contributed to spiraling violence in the camp.

Such violence, combined with dire humanitarian conditions , have led to a security vacuum in the camp that has been filled by various Rohingya armed groups, operating with divergent goals and methods but creating something of a turf clash embroiling the refugees living there.

Armed groups in the camps

Out of 11 known active armed Rohingya groups – some of which were engaged in the insurgency in Rakhine state against Myanmar’s central government prior to crossing the border – five are heavily implicated in violent activities in the camps.

The most prominent of these is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army . Formed in northern Rakhine state in 2016, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army gained prominence after attacking Myanmar security forces in October 2016 and August 2017, prompting the government crackdowns on, and exodus of, Rohingya.

Government troops killed an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas and forced more than 750,000 from the state in a campaign that led much of the international community to label the violence a genocide .

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attempt to establish control over the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has led to a backlash from other groups vying for their own foothold, including the Rohingya Solidarity Organization – a long-dormant group that reemerged in Bangladesh in 2021 with support from Bangladeshi security agencies .

Two other groups with links to drug trafficking and other illegal trade — the formerly Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army-affiliated Master Munna Group and the Nobi Hossain Group, which is nominally aligned with the Rohingya Solidarity Organization — have added to the infighting. Meanwhile, the Islami Mahaj group seeks to recruit members in the camp through its Islamist agenda.

Trafficking and drugs

The displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees has provided criminal groups with opportunities to expand their activities. Since 2017, illegal trade across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border has flourished, as has the flow of arms from Myanmar and India, the smuggling of Yaba pills – a kind of methamphetamine – and other drugs, trafficking of women and children, and the illegal sale of relief goods.

Organizations like the Master Munna and Nobi Hossain groups are involved in racketeering, extortion and smuggling in the refugee camps and clash with each other to establish dominance over territory.

During my fieldwork in the camps, I have observed how panic can engulf refugee populations, especially after high-profile murders, as residents fear reprisal attacks and more clashes between the armed groups. As a result, thousands of Rohingya have frequently relocated their stay from one camp to another in search of safety.

Fighting benefits Myanmar’s military

Alongside the toll this violence takes on the victims, the infighting — and the criminal activities of armed Rohingya groups — exacts a political cost for the refugees.

Myanmar uses the fighting as a pretext to blame Bangladesh for ongoing unrest and to defend its treatment of the Rohingya as a legitimate security rationale. In September 2020, Myanmar’s representatives at the United Nations General Assembly accused Bangladesh’s government of harboring “terrorists ,” a contention that Bangladeshi diplomats strongly denied.

The violence has also encouraged hostility among Bangladeshis toward the refugees, who are increasingly perceived as troublemakers and criminals.

Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations and aid workers have been hampered in their ability to deliver services to refugees and civilians in the camps. And an already weary donor community sees risks in the growing militancy and criminality in the camps.

Old tension takes new shape

Tensions between various Rohingya refugee communities isn’t new. Prior to 2017, there were already problems between those registered with the UN’s refugee agency in Bangladesh and living in official camps, and those who were not registered and living in makeshift camps.

But recently, I have observed open hostility between earlier generations of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991-1992 and the newcomers from the 2017 exodus. What’s different and particularly alarming now is that these tensions started escalating into deadly violence after 2017.

The violence and killing in the camps involve, by my estimate , roughly 5,000 people. It represents a small fraction of the 1.3 million Rohingya refugees overall – including both those who fled before and during the 2017 exodus. But the actions of this minority have been incredibly damaging for the Rohingya and their future; it jeopardizes vital regional and global support and makes eventual repatriation to Myanmar more uncertain.

The change in government in Bangladesh does offer an opportunity for the Rohingya, especially if the incoming administration sticks by pledges to bolster the country’s judicial institutions and protect minority groups . But unrest in the camps will only add to the problems facing the new government and could undermine support for a solution to the Rohingya crisis.

The fear is it may condemn Bangladesh’s Rohingya minority to many more years in uncertain and increasingly violent conditions.

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What is life like in a refugee camp?

While the vast majority of refugees (78% according to the UNHCR) are hosted in cities, that still leaves approximately 9.5 million refugees living in camps around the world. The biggest among them can host nearly  1 million on their own. What does life look like for those living in these camps, and what does it take to get there?

To understand what life is like in a refugee camp, it helps to know what life was like for many residents before they arrived there. Leaving home isn’t always the first option, but sometimes it’s the only choice. 

“Back in Sudan, we used to be farmers... Life was very good,” says Fatima*, a 48-year-old mother of five. Now living in a camp for refugees forced to flee the ongoing  crisis in Sudan , Fatima recalls Mondays and Thursdays spent making kisra bread and bean cakes to sell at the market, along with onions, garlic, and other crops from their farm. 

Then, fighting broke out in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on April 15, 2023. Fatima’s younger brother was killed, along with her husband’s son. Her husband, who was travelling with another son, reached neighbouring Chad. From here, he called his wife and told her she needed to get out. 

Even early on in the conflict, getting out was not easy. 

Fatima’s neighbours gave her the money she needed to move with the rest of her children. A journey from their village to Chad would normally cost 3,000 to 4,000 Sudanese pounds (SDG; approximately €4.50 to €6.00), but for this trip she wound up paying 250,000 SDG for four people (62,500 SDG per person). 

“Luckily for us, no one died during the journey,” she says. “All they did was take money from us.” 

First stop: Transit sites

Fatima and her children first arrived at a transit site in Chad, essentially a layover site for displaced people to register before being relocated by NGOs to refugee camps. 

These are a common first stop for refugees in the early weeks and months of a crisis, when hundreds or thousands of people leave their country each day. Such a massive influx requires the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to set up these midway processing points in order to register everyone arriving.

While the organisation normally hopes to relocate people to camps very quickly (the UNHCR  usually aims to keep asylum-seekers at a transit site no longer than five days), in the case of Sudan, demand soon overwhelmed the available resources. Fatima and her children were at their transit site for nearly two weeks with little to do but wait.

“During those days, we just ate and slept, we couldn’t go anywhere,” Fatima recalls of the nearly two weeks she spent in a transit centre. She had brought some flour with her from Sudan, and collected leftover supplies from other families who had already been assigned to a camp. 

However, she adds, she didn’t take the sleep for granted: “When we arrived at the transit site, it was the first time that we slept well. All the time we were back home, all we could hear were the sounds of gunshots. We could not sleep because we were so scared. We lived in fear.” 

Fatima and her family were lucky, moving to a camp within two weeks. 

For Dijda*, a 20-year-old student in Sudan, both getting out and getting into a camp were much tougher processes. During their journey, they faced harsh attacks and lost the few items they had brought with them from home. Arriving at the camp in April 2023, they had to wait until June to be brought to a camp, and only began to receive food assistance by the end of their time at the transit site. 

In the meantime, they waited, anxious both for their futures and those of the relatives and friends still in Sudan. In at least one way, however, her experience mirrored that of Fatima’s: “We would sleep all the time, because there was not much to do.” 

Life in a refugee camp

If we’re spending so much time describing life  before  reaching a refugee camp, it’s because these experiences are usually the one thing you’re guaranteed to bring with you into displacement. Whether arriving directly at a camp or spending weeks (if not months) in limbo, arriving at a refugee camp can be a relief for the millions of people who make the difficult decision and dangerous journey to reach safety. 

“Ever since we arrived here, the safety is good; there is no fear of being killed,” says Nayla*, also a 20-year-old student who is currently in Chad. Arriving at the camp from her transit centre, Nayla received a set of kitchen supplies, sleeping mats, and jerry cans (for collecting water) from Concern, which also brought her family to a health centre for a checkup. 

However, refugees also face a new set of challenges. Within the first 72 hours of a displacement emergency, the UNHCR will work with local teams, partner organisations (including Concern), and local governments to set up safe humanitarian spaces for those being forced from home. In rural settings, these usually become the refugee camps you see most often in photographs.

While all parties involved in the set-up and management of these camps aim to provide safe spaces (especially for women and children), easy access to essentials like food and water, and work with host communities to provide things beyond the necessities, can be difficult. 

Many of the  largest host countries for refugees are neighbouring nations that are also experiencing their own political and economic instability (Sudan itself was hosting roughly 926,000 refugees at the onset of its crisis).  Refugee crises are also becoming more protracted, leaving people living in what should otherwise be a temporary camp for years, if not decades. 

A fresh start - with fresh challenges

Before leaving home in June 2023, Nayla recalls a mostly pleasant life that centred around her education. “In the morning, we would prepare for breakfast with my brothers and afterward go to school.” This stopped when the fighting reached her village, which claimed the lives of some of her brothers.

At a refugee camp in Chad, Nayla’s life has shifted focus. “In the morning when we wake up, we have to go very far to get water, because we do not have a source of water close to us,” she says, adding that it’s also a challenge to get food. 

For her younger brothers, there is a child-friendly space set up for kids to play during the day before they receive primary lessons in the early evening. But for the adults, there’s less to do. “We sometimes do washing and cooking, but after that there is nothing to be done,” she says. 

These are some of the obstacles presented in refugee camps and communities (especially as many emergency responses targeting the needs of displaced people have been underfunded, leaving supplies tight and demand high). 

However, they’re not the only issues. Many camps are overcrowded, without the adequate sanitation infrastructure to match the number of residents, which often helps the spread of communicable diseases. 

Cholera, for example, is a waterborne illness that is endemic in  Bangladesh , especially around the time of monsoon season. For the hundreds of thousands of  Rohingya refugees living in informal homes at one of the world’s largest refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, this is a perennial issue. They also face greater exposure to the natural elements.

“We are suffering for a lack of money, lack of water, hot weather, cyclones, and many other things,” says Kulsum*, a 28-year-old wife and mother of four who lives with her family in Camp 13, one of the biggest Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. 

“Sometimes, I cry alone as I suffer from the heat and have no other way,” adds fellow Rohingya refugee Anowara*. 

“We had a beautiful house in Myanmar. I did not have to suffer from the scorching heat as we had trees around our home.”

Building a life and earning a living

“I am very anxious as my husband cannot work, and I cannot work either,” 26-year-old Anowara adds, explaining that both she and her husband are severely restricted in terms of both mobility and work opportunities in Cox’s Bazar. Her husband cannot work due to a gunshot wound sustained during their escape from Myanmar, leaving the family of six dependent upon humanitarian assistance for all of their essentials. 

This is another common challenge for refugees living abroad. 

Life continues even as their lives feel like they’re on hold, and that leaves many in search of opportunities to pay for even the bare minimum of essentials that aren’t covered by aid. “I miss how I could do things for myself back home,” says Hafsa*, a 40-year-old Sudanese mother of five in eastern Chad.

Fatima has found a way to continue making money much in the same way she did in Sudan, by selling kisra - a popular fermented flatbread. Her children then sell it at a local market and she’s able to use the profits to get soap, water, sugar, and other staples. 

“I usually get about 4,000-5,000 Sudanese pounds depending on the quantity I have sold,” she says. Still, it’s not an ideal situation (that income works out to about €6 to €8 at the current exchange rate). “I am doing this because there is nothing else to be done,” she adds. “If I can get something else to do that makes me money, I will do it.” 

Others, like 20-year-old Nayla, have been able to put their studies to practical use within the camp. While at the temporary transit site, the former student often encountered mothers with sick children. She began referring them to Concern’s mobile clinic, which was set up close to her tent. She now works as a community health volunteer within her camp in eastern Chad. 

“During the day, we visit homes and if we find somebody who is sick, we ask the parent or relative to bring them to the health centre,” she says. She also makes follow-ups to patients who have received vaccinations and medication, and helps to screen children for malnutrition using MUAC (mid-upper-arm circumference) tape. 

For Kulsum in Cox’s Bazar, services like these are essential as the current Rohingya crisis becomes more protracted. 

She has given birth to two of her children in the camp, and relied on Concern’s nutrition centre for her health as well as that of her children. “I could not eat good and nutritious food, and I needed [that] because I was pregnant,” she explains. 

“My daughter received the Supercereal from Concern,” she adds, referring to a fortified porridge that helps infants and young children receive their essential nutrients. Kulsum also received seeds for an at-home garden that she was able to start to maintain a diverse and healthy diet for her family in the long term. 

The next steps

While Nayla’s work with Concern makes her days in eastern Chad more fulfilling, they’re nothing compared to home. “It is not easy for me to spend my life here,” she says. “I am hoping that peace can come to Sudan; if the situation will be stable, my hope is that we can go back.” 

This is perhaps one of the most universal experiences that refugees around the world share: the opposing yet connected desire to go home, but also to remain safe. Refugee camps and communities serve as a physical space for that contradictory state, because as much as many people want to go home, many also don’t. Fatima offers this perspective: “Since I got here, I have not heard any sounds of gunshots, and that makes me happy because I am finally able to sleep at night. I prefer to stay here because in my country there is no peace.” 

Anowara feels both ways at the same time: “We want to return to Myanmar, if there is no more conflict,” she says. “If they start to kill people like before, how could we go [back]?” At the same time, she adds, “we also live in fear [here]. I am always worried about my children’s future. How will I raise them?”

For millions like Anowara, the uncertainty is the hardest part. 

*Names have been changed for security purposes.

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Whatever happened to ... the Rohingya refugee who won a U.N. award for his photos?

Raashida, 15, says she was injured in her family's home in Rakhine State, Myanmar, on August 7 in a drone attack by the Arakan Army. Her mother and one sibling also sustained injuries. According to Amnesty International, "Rohingya civilians are now caught in the middle of intensifying conflict in Rakhine State between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military." Raashida's family has fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, where nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live in camps, having left their homes due to anti-Muslim persecution and violence.

Sahat Zia Hero

Since 2017, the Rohingya people from Myanmar have been fleeing anti-Muslim persecution in their predominantly Buddhist country. Most have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where many now live in makeshift communities around Cox's Bazar district.

About half of those living in the refugee camps are children. Despite fleeing violence in their home country, the Rohingya people continue to face threats of disease, hunger and natural disasters in their settlements.

Over the past year, the conflict between rebel forces and government troops in Myanmar has brought new refugees to the settlements. According to a statement issued this month by the group Refugees International: "In Rakhine state, increased fighting between Myanmar's military junta and the AA (Arakan Army) ... has both caught Rohingya in the middle and seen them targeted. The AA has advanced and burned homes in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and other towns, recently using drones to bomb villag es,"

According to the Associated Press: "UNICEF said that the agency received alarming reports that civilians, particularly children and families, were being targeted or caught in the crossfire, resulting in deaths and severe injuries."

In December 2023, we featured four Rohingya photographers who were the Asia-Pacific regional winners of the United Nations' annual Nansen Refugee Award , which recognizes exceptional effort to protect refugees, displaced and stateless people. These photographers are among the nearly one million people who live as refugees in Bangladesh. This week, we followed up with one of the photographers, Sahat Zia Hero , to ask how life has been since then.

How have things been since we last spoke in December?

We have been very busy. I participated in a lot of exhibitions in Bangladesh. I also organized photo contests for the young photographers in the camp. I am the founder of Rohingyatographer Magazine , and we have a team of more than 30 photographers, including 11 women. Every day, they share their photos with us, and we post them on social media. And every month we select three winners — one from Facebook, another from Instagram and another from Twitter [now known as X]. I sponsor an award for the three winners every month.

How can you afford to sponsor a prize?

I have some funds from my Prince Claus Seeds Award [for work that makes a positive contribution to society] and Nansen Refugee Regional Award . This really encourages [the winners] and motivates them to keep getting better.

We [also] just won the Casa Asia awards in the category of Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainable Development. I was invited to receive the award in Madrid, but I could not attend because I don't have any formal identity or passport. But we celebrated the award, and we are grateful and so happy to be recognized.

Our hard work, resilience, skills and talent made it possible to win this award. We can use this opportunity to further develop more collective work and make sure the plight of Rohingya people is heard.

Noman, a Rohingya boy who is 7 years old, shows the bullet that wounded him a month ago during clashes between the rebel Arakan Army and government forces. Naman and his family fled to the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

You have been vocal about the importance of drawing attention to the challenges of the Rohingya community. Did the U.N. recognition make any difference?

Yes. It’s important that the Rohingya photographers get recognized by the U.N., the public and the international community. I hope to [continue to] draw the attention from the international community to amplify the voice of my community to solve the Rohingya crisis.

Could you elaborate on the current state of the Rohingya crisis? How are things going in Myanmar?

Right now, we are a million people living in the camps, and the conflict in the Arakan state [now known as Rakhine state] is still unfolding. More people from Myanmar are still fleeing and coming to the refugee camp due to the violence between the Arakan army and the Myanmar military.

Both the Myanmar military and the Arakan army target the Rohingya people. They are bombing our villages and homes, killing people. In June, more than 30 people were killed in the fight between the Arakan army and the Myanmar military — including children and women. Most were killed in the bombardments when they were sleeping in their homes.

Humaira, age 34, is the mother of five children. She was injured in a drone attack by the Arakan Army on August 4, as Rohingya citizens have been caught up in ongoing conflict between the rebel troop and government forces in their state. The family fled to Bangladesh, where Humaira and other injured family members have been treated by staff from Doctors without Borders.

There are whole families that were affected by the bombs, so there are a lot of people injured. Thousands of people were displaced, but most of them can’t find a way to flee.

The Rohingya people in Arakan don't have food, security or health care. The hospitals are all closed. [In June], MSF [Doctors Without Borders] withdrew their activities from that area . And the rebels have been looting from the people. So the Rohingya people are facing a very difficult situation — they have nowhere to go, nowhere to flee, [and are] moving from one village to another village. The war continues. And no one is safe there. Nowhere is safe. I am really concerned.

And how is life at the refugee settlement in Bangladesh?

Living in this refugee camp is getting worse due to the decreased funds from the U.N. and international community. I am very concerned about the future of the young generation. They are facing food crises, water crises [and] health crises. We must find a solution so we can rebuild the hope and future of the young generation and the Rohingya people.

At the end of July, heavy rains in Bangladesh brought flooding and landslides. Hundreds of families of Rohingya refugees left their shelters to seek safe places.

Last month, there was very heavy rain and landslides. Hundreds of families were displaced in the camp. This happens every year during the monsoon. The landslides demolish our shelters while we are sleeping. It is difficult to take all the bodies from the mud because we don’t have the equipment, so we have to take them with our hands. We don’t get emergency support from the rescue team if it happens at night. It takes a long time to come to help.

What do you wish people knew about the Rohingya refugees?

This a tough life.

We are humans too, and we have the right to seek a better life like other people around the world. So we need support from the international community to really focus on the Rohingya crisis to find a solution.

How can the international community help?

If the international community joins with the government of Bangladesh and makes dialogue with the Myanmar government and Arakan army to not target the Rohingya people, who are already vulnerable, then we can help ensure their safety. Maybe we can see a way to repatriate the Rohingya people in refugee camps.

Badi Alom, age 62, says his fingers were cut after he was detained by the rebel Arakan Army when he went to a bazaar to buy fish for his family. He and his family now live in the Rohingya refugee settlement in Bangladesh.

Is seeking asylum elsewhere possible? Do you have any desire or plans to move?

It is hard for me to stay in the camp, and sometimes I think about seeking asylum in another country to study there. I could not complete my graduation in Myanmar — I got to my second year but could not complete my three years there. Completing graduation in the university was my dream — I wanted to be an engineer. I still want to study computer science. But I stay in the camp for the community — to do something for them.

Right now, I am empowering the community. [Many] people like me who are a bit educated or talented leave the camp, so the community feels like they are being forgotten. I like to encourage them to know we are not leaving them behind, we are staying together, we are fighting together. Staying with them encourages them to stay resilient, so that’s why I am still living here instead of finding opportunity for resettlement.

What are your plans for the future? What are you most excited about?

I hope for the world to recognize our resilience and acknowledge our work. For the world to hear the voice of our community and see [our] situation to generate empathy and action.

A Rohingya woman who fled with her child to Bangladesh after her husband was killed in a drone attack by the Arakan Army.

I want to do more projects with women photographers so we can ensure that women’s voices are also heard. But we have not received any sponsorship to fund us this year. But if we get any funding from generous donors or others who want to support our work, we can amplify the voices of the Rohingya women.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Copyright 2024 NPR

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7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence

Hundreds of thousands of minority muslims fled myanmar in 2017 amid a government crackdown. seven years on, they remain in refugee camps..

(The Conversation) — Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighboring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have faced dire living conditions while clustered into the world’s most crowded refugee camps.

Since 2017, their status has been continually challenged by both intermittent hostility from within Bangladesh and an ongoing civil war in Myanmar, during which the military government has continued to crack down on the Rohingya’s homeland in Rakhine state .

But recent events in Bangladesh may offer a glimmer of hope for the Rohingya. Months of political unrest led to the ouster of the authoritarian prime minister , Sheikh Hasina, whose government failed to find a solution to the refugee problem.

The new interim government leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to defend their rights as refugees and work to secure their eventual repatriation.

As a scholar who has written about the Rohingya crisis and spent time in the refugee camps, I believe the odds are still stacked against the Rohingya. Policymakers must contend not only with growing hostility among Bangladesh’s local population and the ongoing Myanmarese civil war, but also with an underappreciated third factor that challenges a political resolution to the crisis: ongoing and growing violence and infighting among Rohingya refugees.

Murder, rape and kidnapping

More than 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 after facing a brutal government crackdown. Since then, around 235 Rohingyas have been killed in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In addition, there have been dozens of cases of rape against Rohingya girls and women and scores of kidnappings recorded by the Bangladeshi authorities.

The killing of high-profile people among the refugee population, including the 2021 assassination of Mohib Ullah , a moderate Rohingya leader, has contributed to spiraling violence in the camp.

Such violence, combined with dire humanitarian conditions , have led to a security vacuum in the camp that has been filled by various Rohingya armed groups, operating with divergent goals and methods but creating something of a turf clash embroiling the refugees living there.

Rohingya refugee children play near a marketplace in the Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh. Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images

Armed groups in the camps

Out of 11 known active armed Rohingya groups – some of which were engaged in the insurgency in Rakhine state against Myanmar’s central government prior to crossing the border – five are heavily implicated in violent activities in the camps.

The most prominent of these is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army . Formed in northern Rakhine state in 2016, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army gained prominence after attacking Myanmar security forces in October 2016 and August 2017, prompting the government crackdowns on, and exodus of, Rohingya.

Government troops killed an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas and forced more than 750,000 from the state in a campaign that led much of the international community to label the violence a genocide .

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attempt to establish control over the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has led to a backlash from other groups vying for their own foothold, including the Rohingya Solidarity Organization – a long-dormant group that reemerged in Bangladesh in 2021 with support from Bangladeshi security agencies .

Two other groups with links to drug trafficking and other illegal trade — the formerly Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army-affiliated Master Munna Group and the Nobi Hossain Group, which is nominally aligned with the Rohingya Solidarity Organization — have added to the infighting. Meanwhile, the Islami Mahaj group seeks to recruit members in the camp through its Islamist agenda.

Trafficking and drugs

The displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees has provided criminal groups with opportunities to expand their activities. Since 2017, illegal trade across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border has flourished, as has the flow of arms from Myanmar and India, the smuggling of Yaba pills – a kind of methamphetamine – and other drugs, trafficking of women and children, and the illegal sale of relief goods.

Organizations like the Master Munna and Nobi Hossain groups are involved in racketeering, extortion and smuggling in the refugee camps and clash with each other to establish dominance over territory.

During my fieldwork in the camps, I have observed how panic can engulf refugee populations, especially after high-profile murders, as residents fear reprisal attacks and more clashes between the armed groups. As a result, thousands of Rohingya have frequently relocated their stay from one camp to another in search of safety.

Fighting benefits Myanmar’s military

Alongside the toll this violence takes on the victims, the infighting — and the criminal activities of armed Rohingya groups — exacts a political cost for the refugees.

Myanmar uses the fighting as a pretext to blame Bangladesh for ongoing unrest and to defend its treatment of the Rohingya as a legitimate security rationale. In September 2020, Myanmar’s representatives at the United Nations General Assembly accused Bangladesh’s government of harboring “terrorists ,” a contention that Bangladeshi diplomats strongly denied.

The violence has also encouraged hostility among Bangladeshis toward the refugees, who are increasingly perceived as troublemakers and criminals.

Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations and aid workers have been hampered in their ability to deliver services to refugees and civilians in the camps. And an already weary donor community sees risks in the growing militancy and criminality in the camps.

Old tension takes new shape

Tensions between various Rohingya refugee communities isn’t new. Prior to 2017, there were already problems between those registered with the UN’s refugee agency in Bangladesh and living in official camps, and those who were not registered and living in makeshift camps.

But recently, I have observed open hostility between earlier generations of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991-1992 and the newcomers from the 2017 exodus. What’s different and particularly alarming now is that these tensions started escalating into deadly violence after 2017.

The violence and killing in the camps involve, by my estimate , roughly 5,000 people. It represents a small fraction of the 1.3 million Rohingya refugees overall – including both those who fled before and during the 2017 exodus. But the actions of this minority have been incredibly damaging for the Rohingya and their future; it jeopardizes vital regional and global support and makes eventual repatriation to Myanmar more uncertain.

The change in government in Bangladesh does offer an opportunity for the Rohingya, especially if the incoming administration sticks by pledges to bolster the country’s judicial institutions and protect minority groups . But unrest in the camps will only add to the problems facing the new government and could undermine support for a solution to the Rohingya crisis.

The fear is it may condemn Bangladesh’s Rohingya minority to many more years in uncertain and increasingly violent conditions.

(Nasir Uddin, Professor of Anthropology, University of Chittagong. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

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Following Up

Whatever happened to ... the rohingya refugee who won a u.n. award for his photos.

Maria Isabel Barros Guinle

Raashida, 15, says she was injured in her family's home in Rakhine State, Myanmar, on August 7 in a drone attack by the Arakan Army. Her mother and one sibling also sustained injuries. According to Amnesty International, "Rohingya civilians are now caught in the middle of intensifying conflict in Rakhine State between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military." Raashida's family has fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, where nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live in camps, having left their homes due to anti-Muslim persecution and violence. Sahat Zia Hero hide caption

Since 2017, the Rohingya people from Myanmar have been fleeing anti-Muslim persecution in their predominantly Buddhist country. Most have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where many now live in makeshift communities around Cox’s Bazar district.

About half of those living in the refugee camps are children. Despite fleeing violence in their home country, the Rohingya people continue to face threats of disease, hunger and natural disasters in their settlements.

Over the past year, the conflict between rebel forces and government troops in Myanmar has brought new refugees to the settlements. According to a statement issued this month by the group Refugees International: "In Rakhine state, increased fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and the AA (Arakan Army) ... has both caught Rohingya in the middle and seen them targeted. The AA has advanced and burned homes in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and other towns, recently using drones to bomb villag es,”

According to the Associated Press: "UNICEF said that the agency received alarming reports that civilians, particularly children and families, were being targeted or caught in the crossfire, resulting in deaths and severe injuries."

In December 2023, we featured four Rohingya photographers who were the Asia-Pacific regional winners of the United Nations’ annual Nansen Refugee Award , which recognizes exceptional effort to protect refugees, displaced and stateless people. These photographers are among the nearly one million people who live as refugees in Bangladesh. This week, we followed up with one of the photographers, Sahat Zia Hero , to ask how life has been since then.

How have things been since we last spoke in December?

We have been very busy. I participated in a lot of exhibitions in Bangladesh. I also organized photo contests for the young photographers in the camp. I am the founder of Rohingyatographer Magazine , and we have a team of more than 30 photographers, including 11 women. Every day, they share their photos with us, and we post them on social media. And every month we select three winners — one from Facebook, another from Instagram and another from Twitter [now known as X]. I sponsor an award for the three winners every month.

How can you afford to sponsor a prize?

I have some funds from my Prince Claus Seeds Award [for work that makes a positive contribution to society] and Nansen Refugee Regional Award . This really encourages [the winners] and motivates them to keep getting better.

We [also] just won the Casa Asia awards in the category of Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainable Development. I was invited to receive the award in Madrid, but I could not attend because I don’t have any formal identity or passport. But we celebrated the award, and we are grateful and so happy to be recognized.

Our hard work, resilience, skills and talent made it possible to win this award. We can use this opportunity to further develop more collective work and make sure the plight of Rohingya people is heard.

Noman, a Rohingya boy who is 7 years old, shows the bullet that wounded him a month ago during clashes between the rebel Arakan Army and government forces. Naman and his family fled to the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. hide caption

You have been vocal about the importance of drawing attention to the challenges of the Rohingya community. Did the U.N. recognition make any difference?

Yes. It’s important that the Rohingya photographers get recognized by the U.N., the public and the international community. I hope to [continue to] draw the attention from the international community to amplify the voice of my community to solve the Rohingya crisis.

Could you elaborate on the current state of the Rohingya crisis? How are things going in Myanmar?

Right now, we are a million people living in the camps, and the conflict in the Arakan state [now known as Rakhine state] is still unfolding. More people from Myanmar are still fleeing and coming to the refugee camp due to the violence between the Arakan army and the Myanmar military.

Both the Myanmar military and the Arakan army target the Rohingya people. They are bombing our villages and homes, killing people. In June, more than 30 people were killed in the fight between the Arakan army and the Myanmar military — including children and women. Most were killed in the bombardments when they were sleeping in their homes.

Humaira, age 34, is the mother of five children. She was injured in a drone attack by the Arakan Army on August 4, as Rohingya citizens have been caught up in ongoing conflict between the rebel troop and government forces in their state. The family fled to Bangladesh, where Humaira and other injured family members have been treated by staff from Doctors without Borders. Sahat Zia Hero hide caption

There are whole families that were affected by the bombs, so there are a lot of people injured. Thousands of people were displaced, but most of them can’t find a way to flee.

The Rohingya people in Arakan don’t have food, security or health care. The hospitals are all closed. [In June], MSF [Doctors Without Borders] withdrew their activities from that area . And the rebels have been looting from the people. So the Rohingya people are facing a very difficult situation — they have nowhere to go, nowhere to flee, [and are] moving from one village to another village. The war continues. And no one is safe there. Nowhere is safe. I am really concerned.

And how is life at the refugee settlement in Bangladesh?

Living in this refugee camp is getting worse due to the decreased funds from the U.N. and international community. I am very concerned about the future of the young generation. They are facing food crises, water crises [and] health crises. We must find a solution so we can rebuild the hope and future of the young generation and the Rohingya people.

At the end of July, heavy rains in Bangladesh brought flooding and landslides. Hundreds of families of Rohingya refugees left their shelters to seek safe places. Sahat Zia Hero hide caption

Last month, there was very heavy rain and landslides. Hundreds of families were displaced in the camp. This happens every year during the monsoon. The landslides demolish our shelters while we are sleeping. It is difficult to take all the bodies from the mud because we don’t have the equipment, so we have to take them with our hands. We don’t get emergency support from the rescue team if it happens at night. It takes a long time to come to help.

What do you wish people knew about the Rohingya refugees?

This a tough life.

We are humans too, and we have the right to seek a better life like other people around the world. So we need support from the international community to really focus on the Rohingya crisis to find a solution.

How can the international community help?

If the international community joins with the government of Bangladesh and makes dialogue with the Myanmar government and Arakan army to not target the Rohingya people, who are already vulnerable, then we can help ensure their safety. Maybe we can see a way to repatriate the Rohingya people in refugee camps.

Badi Alom, age 62, says his fingers were cut after he was detained by the rebel Arakan Army when he went to a bazaar to buy fish for his family. He and his family now live in the Rohingya refugee settlement in Bangladesh. Sahat Zia Hero hide caption

Is seeking asylum elsewhere possible? Do you have any desire or plans to move?

It is hard for me to stay in the camp, and sometimes I think about seeking asylum in another country to study there. I could not complete my graduation in Myanmar — I got to my second year but could not complete my three years there. Completing graduation in the university was my dream — I wanted to be an engineer. I still want to study computer science. But I stay in the camp for the community — to do something for them.

Right now, I am empowering the community. [Many] people like me who are a bit educated or talented leave the camp, so the community feels like they are being forgotten. I like to encourage them to know we are not leaving them behind, we are staying together, we are fighting together. Staying with them encourages them to stay resilient, so that’s why I am still living here instead of finding opportunity for resettlement.

What are your plans for the future? What are you most excited about?

I hope for the world to recognize our resilience and acknowledge our work. For the world to hear the voice of our community and see [our] situation to generate empathy and action.

A Rohingya woman who fled with her child to Bangladesh after her husband was killed in a drone attack by the Arakan Army. Sahat Zia Hero hide caption

I want to do more projects with women photographers so we can ensure that women’s voices are also heard. But we have not received any sponsorship to fund us this year. But if we get any funding from generous donors or others who want to support our work, we can amplify the voices of the Rohingya women.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighboring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have faced dire living conditions while clustered into the world’s most crowded refugee camps.

Since 2017, their status has been continually challenged by both intermittent hostility from within Bangladesh and an ongoing civil war in Myanmar, during which the military government has continued to crack down on the Rohingya’s homeland in Rakhine state .

But recent events in Bangladesh may offer a glimmer of hope for the Rohingya. Months of political unrest led to the ouster of the authoritarian prime minister , Sheikh Hasina, whose government failed to find a solution to the refugee problem.

The new interim government leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to defend their rights as refugees and work to secure their eventual repatriation.

As a scholar who has written about the Rohingya crisis and spent time in the refugee camps, I believe the odds are still stacked against the Rohingya. Policymakers must contend not only with growing hostility among Bangladesh’s local population and the ongoing Myanmarese civil war, but also with an underappreciated third factor that challenges a political resolution to the crisis: ongoing and growing violence and infighting among Rohingya refugees.

Murder, rape and kidnapping

More than 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 after facing a brutal government crackdown. Since then, around 235 Rohingyas have been killed in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In addition, there have been dozens of cases of rape against Rohingya girls and women and scores of kidnappings recorded by the Bangladeshi authorities.

The killing of high-profile people among the refugee population, including the 2021 assassination of Mohib Ullah , a moderate Rohingya leader, has contributed to spiraling violence in the camp.

Such violence, combined with dire humanitarian conditions , have led to a security vacuum in the camp that has been filled by various Rohingya armed groups, operating with divergent goals and methods but creating something of a turf clash embroiling the refugees living there.

Armed groups in the camps

Out of 11 known active armed Rohingya groups – some of which were engaged in the insurgency in Rakhine state against Myanmar’s central government prior to crossing the border – five are heavily implicated in violent activities in the camps.

The most prominent of these is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army . Formed in northern Rakhine state in 2016, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army gained prominence after attacking Myanmar security forces in October 2016 and August 2017, prompting the government crackdowns on, and exodus of, Rohingya.

Government troops killed an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas and forced more than 750,000 from the state in a campaign that led much of the international community to label the violence a genocide .

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attempt to establish control over the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has led to a backlash from other groups vying for their own foothold, including the Rohingya Solidarity Organization – a long-dormant group that reemerged in Bangladesh in 2021 with support from Bangladeshi security agencies .

Two other groups with links to drug trafficking and other illegal trade — the formerly Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army-affiliated Master Munna Group and the Nobi Hossain Group, which is nominally aligned with the Rohingya Solidarity Organization — have added to the infighting. Meanwhile, the Islami Mahaj group seeks to recruit members in the camp through its Islamist agenda.

Trafficking and drugs

The displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees has provided criminal groups with opportunities to expand their activities. Since 2017, illegal trade across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border has flourished, as has the flow of arms from Myanmar and India, the smuggling of Yaba pills – a kind of methamphetamine – and other drugs, trafficking of women and children, and the illegal sale of relief goods.

Organizations like the Master Munna and Nobi Hossain groups are involved in racketeering, extortion and smuggling in the refugee camps and clash with each other to establish dominance over territory.

During my fieldwork in the camps, I have observed how panic can engulf refugee populations, especially after high-profile murders, as residents fear reprisal attacks and more clashes between the armed groups. As a result, thousands of Rohingya have frequently relocated their stay from one camp to another in search of safety.

Fighting benefits Myanmar’s military

Alongside the toll this violence takes on the victims, the infighting — and the criminal activities of armed Rohingya groups — exacts a political cost for the refugees.

Myanmar uses the fighting as a pretext to blame Bangladesh for ongoing unrest and to defend its treatment of the Rohingya as a legitimate security rationale. In September 2020, Myanmar’s representatives at the United Nations General Assembly accused Bangladesh’s government of harboring “terrorists ,” a contention that Bangladeshi diplomats strongly denied.

The violence has also encouraged hostility among Bangladeshis toward the refugees, who are increasingly perceived as troublemakers and criminals.

Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations and aid workers have been hampered in their ability to deliver services to refugees and civilians in the camps. And an already weary donor community sees risks in the growing militancy and criminality in the camps.

Old tension takes new shape

Tensions between various Rohingya refugee communities isn’t new. Prior to 2017, there were already problems between those registered with the UN’s refugee agency in Bangladesh and living in official camps, and those who were not registered and living in makeshift camps.

But recently, I have observed open hostility between earlier generations of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991-1992 and the newcomers from the 2017 exodus. What’s different and particularly alarming now is that these tensions started escalating into deadly violence after 2017.

The violence and killing in the camps involve, by my estimate , roughly 5,000 people. It represents a small fraction of the 1.3 million Rohingya refugees overall – including both those who fled before and during the 2017 exodus. But the actions of this minority have been incredibly damaging for the Rohingya and their future; it jeopardizes vital regional and global support and makes eventual repatriation to Myanmar more uncertain.

The change in government in Bangladesh does offer an opportunity for the Rohingya, especially if the incoming administration sticks by pledges to bolster the country’s judicial institutions and protect minority groups . But unrest in the camps will only add to the problems facing the new government and could undermine support for a solution to the Rohingya crisis.

The fear is it may condemn Bangladesh’s Rohingya minority to many more years in uncertain and increasingly violent conditions.

This article is republished from The Conversation , a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Nasir Uddin , University of Chittagong

The history of the persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya

Without school, a ‘lost generation’ of Rohingya refugee children face uncertain future

Bangladesh’s protests explained: What led to PM’s ouster and the challenges that lie ahead

Nasir Uddin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.