NRC in Bangladesh

There, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) helps to provide clean drinking water and sanitation to over 100,000 people every year, as well as running education and protection programmes, preparing for emergencies, and delivering vital legal assistance. In total, our support reaches over 230,000 people each year.

What’s happening in Bangladesh?

In 2017, almost 750,000 Rohingya refugees fled across the border from neighbouring Myanmar – joining families from previous waves of displacement and bringing the total number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to over a million.

Most of these families live in Cox’s Bazar, a mega-camp known as the world’s largest refugee settlement. Conditions there are extremely challenging, with flimsy bamboo shelters perched precariously on land prone to flooding, landslides and cyclones. Families have limited access to clean water, sanitation and healthcare, and many children and young people are missing out on education.

Refugees aren’t permitted to work in Bangladesh, despite repeated requests for them to be allowed to earn an income. This means that Rohingya families can’t support themselves in exile but also can’t return home for fear of violence – instead, they are trapped in limbo and considered stateless under international law.