tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/bangladesh-5428/articlesBangladesh – The Conversation2024-03-27T00:47:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245152024-03-27T00:47:11Z2024-03-27T00:47:11ZGangs, kidnappings, murders: why thousands of Rohingya are desperately trying to escape refugee camps by boats<p>Late last week, a boat crammed with Rohingya refugees fleeing a squalid camp in Bangladesh capsized off the coast of Indonesia. Around 75 people were rescued, including nine children, but <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-25/three-rohingya-found-at-sea-indonesia-aceh/103626938">more than 70 are missing and presumed dead</a>. </p>
<p>This tragedy isn’t an isolated incident. The number of Rohingya people trying to escape refugee camps by boat has skyrocketed in recent months. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar">UN High Commissioner for Refugees</a>, 1,783 Rohingya refugees boarded boats from Bangladesh from January to October 1, 2023. Since then, around 3,100 people have embarked on these treacherous journeys – an increase of nearly 74%.</p>
<p>Since January 2023, around 490 Rohingya have been reported dead or <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar">missing</a>, including 280 since October 1. </p>
<p>Their attempts to reach countries like Malaysia and most recently Indonesia are <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/rohingya-refugees-facing-hostile-reception-aceh">being met with refusals and pushbacks</a>, leaving many Rohingya stranded at sea and vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and even death.</p>
<p>Why are so many Rohingya trying to flee in recent months? And how should the international community respond to this increasingly desperate humanitarian crisis? </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379050392_As_long_as_we_are_stateless_we_will_have_tension_Idioms_of_distress_amongst_Rohingya_Refugees_in_Cox's_Bazar_Bangladesh">new article</a> recently submitted for peer review, we (two Australian academics and six anonymous Rohingya activists) describe the “push factors” that have been identified in community-based research in the camps, which are forcing many people to board boats to try to reach safety. </p>
<h2>Living with constant tension</h2>
<p>The nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees now living in Bangladesh are survivors of a massive Myanmar military operation in 2017 aimed at driving them from their homes in western Rakhine state. </p>
<p>Estimates of the number of people killed during the operation range from around <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30037-3/fulltext">7,800</a> to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3242696">24,000</a>. The United Nations has called it a “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/09/564622-un-human-rights-chief-points-textbook-example-ethnic-cleansing-myanmar">textbook example of ethnic cleansing</a>” and <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133597">genocide</a>.</p>
<p>Even before they were forced across the border, the Rohingya people had been subjected to decades of discrimination, denial of citizenship, exclusion from schools and work, restrictions on freedom of movement and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/myanmar-apartheid-against-rohingya">violence</a> from authorities. </p>
<p>Now, trapped in limbo in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, they are experiencing many of the same things.</p>
<p>In 2019, we conducted on-the-ground interviews with 27 Rohingya community experts living in Cox’s Bazaar, including teachers, mothers, religious leaders, spiritual healers, youths and activists. We wanted to know how Rohingya people understand and describe the psychological impacts of genocide and displacement. </p>
<p>This understanding is important because most mental health services are based on Western terminology like “depression”, “anxiety” or “stress”. But these may not properly fit the Rohingya experience. Instead, we found the English word “tension” (in Rohingya, <em>sinta</em>) was used by many refugees, which conveys feelings of worry, concern and anxiety and captures the experience of being stateless.</p>
<p>As two anonymous adolescent Rohingya women described it to us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is no opportunity to do anything, all we do is stay inside.</p>
<p>Tension is loss. We’ve lost land, children, husband, that’s why we feel tension. </p>
<p>Tension is neck pain. Tension is throat, shoulders and head pain. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>After conducting our interviews, we then developed a pictorial model of “tension”, as Rohingya is an oral language. The model (below) showed how being “opportunity-less” – from lack of work, education or freedom of movement – sits at the centre of tension. </p>
<p>Our interview subjects told us lack of opportunity leads to thinking too much, pain in the body and conflict in the family, between families and with the Bangladeshi community. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Why the situation has become even more dire</h2>
<p>The six Rohingya activists who helped us to conduct this research have since described to us how these sources of tension have worsened since 2019.</p>
<p>Like so many in their communities, they have personally experienced arbitrary arrest, fabricated legal cases and <a href="https://www.fortifyrights.org/bgd-inv-2023-08-10/">imprisonment</a> by the Bangladeshi authorities.</p>
<p>After dark, the “night government” (armed groups) roam the camps, kidnapping and demanding ransoms from families, threatening people in their <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2417091/world">homes</a>, trafficking <a href="https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Armed-Rohingya-gangs-kill,-abduct-and-sow-fear-in-Cox's-Bazar-57510.html">drugs</a> and killing anyone who tries to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/16/armed-group-behind-rohingya-leaders-murder-bangladesh-police">speak up</a>. Women and girls are targeted for <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/closer-look/news/why-are-rohingya-women-and-girls-so-unsafe-refugee-camps-2911316">assault and trafficking</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1453331896407138307"}"></div></p>
<p>The camps are also fenced off, like open-air prisons. This means the refugees are trapped when fires break out, which happens frequently. In January, a huge fire <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-12/rohingya-refugees-fire-coxs-bazar-january/103415134">spread quickly</a> in the congested encampments, destroying some 800 shelters and leaving 7,000 people homeless. </p>
<p>And with civil war raging inside Myanmar across the border, some Rohingya in Bangladesh have even been killed by <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/cross-border/news/2-killed-ghumdhum-mortar-shell-myanmar-explodes-bangladesh-3536756">stray mortar shells</a>.</p>
<p>Bangladesh, one of the most <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344470001_COVID-19_pandemic_dengue_epidemic_and_climate_change_vulnerability_in_Bangladesh_Scenario_assessment_for_strategic_management_and_policy_implications">densely populated and poorest</a> countries in the world, cannot address these push factors in the camps without support. International aid for the Rohingya, meanwhile, continues to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/13/un-makes-appeal-calling-for-more-than-850-mn-for-rohingya-refugees">rapidly decline</a>. </p>
<h2>What Australia and regional partners should do</h2>
<p>What can – and should – the international community do to find a durable solution to this problem?</p>
<p>As a well-resourced regional partner, Australia can play a much bigger humanitarian role not focused solely on punishing people smugglers or the refugees themselves through <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/asylum-boats-statistics/">boat turnbacks</a>.</p>
<p>When people are faced with such dire conditions, they will move, no matter the cost. As recent refugee boat arrivals in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-19/beagle-bay-residents-on-asylum-seeker-arrivals-in-wa/103483398">Australia</a> and Indonesia demonstrate, boat turnbacks and arrests fail to address the root causes of forced migration. They do not “stop the boats”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-a-worsening-refugee-crisis-public-support-is-high-in-both-australia-and-nz-to-accept-more-rohingya-199504">Amid a worsening refugee crisis, public support is high in both Australia and NZ to accept more Rohingya</a>
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<p>Here are our recommendations for what Australia, New Zealand and their regional partners should do instead to help the Rohingya people:</p>
<p>1. Exert diplomatic pressure on the Myanmar junta to recognise Rohingya citizenship and facilitate a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict in Rakhine state so the refugees can return home.</p>
<p>2. Address the shortfall in <a href="https://humanitarianadvisorygroup.org/the-silent-decay-of-international-aid-to-rohingya-refugees/">funding</a> to humanitarian organisations working in Bangladesh to address the immediate needs of Rohingya refugees, including food, shelter, health care, proper education and psychosocial support. Invest in the resilience of refugees.</p>
<p>3. Increase pressure on Bangladesh to improve conditions in the refugee camps and provide livelihood opportunities for Rohingya refugees. This includes advocating for policies that allow refugees to work legally and contribute to the local <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/23/five-years-rohingya-refugees-2017-bangladesh-myanmar-military-crackdown">economy</a>.</p>
<p>4. Prioritise resettlement opportunities for Rohingya refugees in third countries, especially those who have been displaced since the 1990s. Resettlement offers a durable solution for those in need of international protection, providing them with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety and with dignity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of Rohingya trying to escape Bangladesh by boat has risen 74% since October. Increasing lawlessness in the camps is one of the major push factors.Ruth Wells, Senior research fellow, Psychiatry and Mental Health, UNSW SydneyMax William Loomes, Senior Researcher, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209242024-01-24T16:47:17Z2024-01-24T16:47:17ZDebt, wage theft and coercion drive the global garment industry – the only answer is collective action<p>Major fashion brands including Barbour and PVH (the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/jan/09/fashion-brands-workers-rights-transparentem-calvin-klein-hilfiger-barbour-compensate-garment-workers-mauritius">agreed</a> to pay over £400,000 in compensation to migrant workers in Mauritius. These workers from Bangladesh, India, China and Madagascar had been forced to pay illegal recruitment fees and, alongside other indicators of forced labour, were allegedly subject to deception and intimidation. </p>
<p>These are the findings from an investigation carried out between 2022 and 2023 by <a href="https://transparentem.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/I-Came-Here-with-So-Many-Dreams_Transparentem.pdf">Transparentem</a>, a US-based organisation that investigates workers’ rights. </p>
<p>Migrant workers across several Mauritian factories reported agreeing to pay fees ranging from a few hundred to several thousand US dollars to secure a good job. But, upon arrival, they discovered the job was poorly paid and expenses were higher than promised.</p>
<p>Exploitative practices like this are actually quite common. The Mauritius case is the latest example of the <a href="https://respect.international/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-Global-Business-of-Forced-Labour-Report-of-Findings-University-of-Sheffield-2018.pdf">use of forced labour</a> (the most commonly identified form of modern slavery) within company supply chains. But all garment workers – free and unfree – can experience unacceptable forms of exploitation that can only be countered through sustained labour organisation. </p>
<h2>The coloniality of our wardrobe</h2>
<p>In 2013, an eight-storey commercial building called <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/campaigns/past/rana-plaza">Rana Plaza</a> collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Over 1,100 people – mostly garment workers – lost their lives, leading to widespread protests and international scrutiny on working conditions in garment factories. </p>
<p>Since then, multiple reports have uncovered labour abuse in the garment sector, including several instances of forced labour. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-ten-years-after-the-bangladesh-factory-collapse-we-are-no-closer-to-fixing-modern-slavery-203774">Rana Plaza: ten years after the Bangladesh factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery</a>
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</em>
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<p>A New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/world/asia/china-mask-forced-labor.html">investigation</a> found that Chinese companies were using Uyghurs to make personal protective equipment during the COVID pandemic through a contentious government-sponsored programme. The Uyghurs are a largely Muslim, persecuted ethnic minority primarily from the Xinjiang region of north-west China. </p>
<p>The global emergency that was caused by the pandemic is over – at least for now. But <a href="https://globallabourcolumn.org/2024/01/10/challenging-corporate-complicity-with-state-imposed-uyghur-forced-labour/">new evidence</a> suggests forced Uyghur labour remains present in 17 industries within China, including the garment industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A line of women dressed in blue working at sewing machines." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570695/original/file-20240122-20-iekiz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">April 2019: Uyghur women work in a cloth factory in Xinjiang, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hotan-china-april-27-2019-uigur-1453598399">Azamat Imanaliev/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Third-party labour contractors are also prevalent in many global supply chains. Contractors recruit and supply local or international migrant labour, and garment factories rely on them to manage and control their workforce. </p>
<p>But contract labourers are <a href="https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/labor_chain-_analysing_the_role_of_labor_contractors.pdf">vulnerable to abuse</a>. In the lower rungs of the supply chain (in informal workshops and homes), workers often work based on a system of <a href="https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/34268/1/The%20Oppressive%20Labour%20Conditions%20of%20the%20Working%20Poor%20in%20the%20Peripheral%20Segments%20of%20India%E2%80%99s%20.pdf">advanced payments</a>. </p>
<p>The labour contractor pays the worker an “advance”, which locks the worker into their employment. It prevents them from negotiating better salaries or working for others until the debt is repaid.</p>
<p>In India, there is evidence that this debt-based system is spreading to garment factories. In Bengaluru, for instance, women in garment factories work under <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308709392_In_debt_to_the_time-bank_the_manipulation_of_working_time_in_Indian_garment_factories_and_working_dead_horse">constant debt</a> to their employer. Missed daily targets, lost productivity or time off are turned into debt that workers must compensate through future labour.</p>
<p>Many forced labour practices have a long history, dating back to colonial relations. Both labour contracting and indebtedness characterised the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2019/10/18/jlf-2019-interview-sven-beckert-empire-of-cotton/">indenture labour system</a> that dominated the production of textiles for centuries. In <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20488049">19th-century India</a>, for example, indenture workers were managed by labour contractors who paid them advances.</p>
<p>Under this point of view, the contemporary garment supply chain is a modern avatar of the colonial labour plantation. </p>
<h2>Illegal terminations and wage theft</h2>
<p>Not every worker that stitches our clothing is forced to do so. In fact, the majority are not. But even workers that we would consider to be “free” – those who are not tied to an employer or labour contractor – can experience harsh forms of exploitation. </p>
<p>I recently wrote a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_884310/lang--en/index.htm">report</a> for the International Labour Organization (ILO) with labour activist and colleague Rakhi Sehgal that documents some of the industrial grievances garment workers filed individually or via unions in India. The report is based on a project that contributes to the ILO’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/WCMS_502329/lang--en/index.htm">Work in Freedom programme</a>. This programme aims to reduce vulnerability to forced labour in south Asia and the Middle East, particularly for women in the garment sector.</p>
<p>We analysed a total of 75 grievances across three of India’s export hubs – Gurugram, Bengaluru and Tiruppur – and found shocking patterns of labour abuse. </p>
<p>We discovered the widespread use of illegal terminations by employers, either through factory closures or relocation. We also found evidence of wage-theft. This usually involves not paying the worker’s final wages – a practice that <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/Tejani-and-Fukuda-Parr-2021-GVC-ILR.pdf">escalated</a> during the COVID pandemic. But it can also be the result of managerial tactics like imposing impossible targets or paying overtime rates that are lower than the legal threshold. </p>
<p>Our report also highlighted gender differences in labour abuse. Sexual harassment was consistently deployed as a tool to discipline women working on the assembly line. We found widespread evidence of sexual harassment in Bengaluru, but it was also present in garment factories <a href="https://feministlawarchives.pldindia.org/wp-content/uploads/recognising-women-workers-issues-at-work-in-india-poulomi-pal.pdf?">surrounding Delhi</a>.</p>
<h2>Social justice on the shopfloor</h2>
<p>Cases like the labour abuse in Mauritius are conspicuous and show new connections between modern slavery and migration. But these cases are enabled by centuries of colonial and neo-colonial organisation of production that has involved unacceptable forms of worker exploitation. </p>
<p>The analysis of the disputes in <a href="https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_884310/lang--en/index.htm">our study</a> clearly suggests that social justice is only achievable through collective action. Most of the industrial grievances that were won by workers and their representatives were, unsurprisingly, collective grievances filed by unions. </p>
<p>In light of yet another sweatshop scandal, let us remember that upholding the freedom of association (the right to form and join trade unions) stands as the most effective means of fighting all forms of labour unfreedom – from Mauritius to India or Bangladesh.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandra Mezzadri has received research funding from ESRC-DfID, British Academy, UNU-WIDER, and the ILO. In the past, she has offered occasional consultancy services to organizations including DfID, ActionAid UK, and ILO-READ. All views expressed here are her own. </span></em></p>Garment workers around the world experience unacceptable forms of exploitation.Alessandra Mezzadri, Reader in Global Development and Political Economy, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209022024-01-17T19:24:20Z2024-01-17T19:24:20ZIndia seeks stronger ties with South Asian governments, snubbing ethnic minorities again<p>India’s regional politics are shifting. It is seeking to strengthen ties with South Asian ruling elites, including in Nepal and Sri Lanka, while ignoring ongoing ethnic uprisings in those countries in the hopes of securing its geopolitical interests. </p>
<p>The Indian government’s opposition to ethnic rights within its own borders is well-documented. In 2019, for example, Narendra Modi’s government decided to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status as an autonomous region, a move <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/11/whats-article-370-what-to-know-about-india-top-court-verdict-on-kashmir">recently upheld by India’s Supreme Court</a>.</p>
<p>Jammu and Kashmir lost their constitution, flag and criminal code, and has been turned into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/what-led-kashmir-decision-by-indias-top-court-2023-12-11/">two federally administered territories</a>. India <a href="https://minorityrights.org/2006/12/14/india-has-failed-to-replicate-success-in-tamil-nadu-to-halt-other-ethnic-conflicts/">has also failed</a> to manage ethnic conflicts in other territories, including Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Nagaland. </p>
<h2>Indian hypocrisy</h2>
<p>Ironically, the Indian government backs ethnic movements in other South Asian countries. It supports or has supported the <a href="https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/handle/123456789/19418">Madheshi movement</a> in Nepal, the <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA624018">Bengali liberation war</a> in Pakistan and <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/indira-gandhi-helped-train-tamil-rebels-and-reaped-whirlwind-13913.html">Tamils in Sri Lanka</a>.</p>
<p>Because of its <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/us-report-lists-significant-human-rights-abuses-india-2023-03-20/">domestic record on ethnic rights</a>, however, India lacks any moral authority to support them elsewhere. Instead, it’s now pursuing a policy of pleasing the ruling elites in its neighbourhood, which it hopes will serve its national aspirations to become a regional powerhouse like China.</p>
<p>So far, that policy has had a limited payoff.</p>
<p>India has been making amends to Nepal since 2015, when it imposed a blockade and obstructed the transportation of petroleum products to Nepal. It wanted to force the Nepalese government to incorporate Madheshi demands in the Nepali constitution. </p>
<p>Nepal refused and, instead, tabled its constitution without addressing Madheshi concerns. It also signed trade and transit agreements with China to minimize Nepal’s dependence on India. </p>
<p>In response, India quietly withdrew its sanctions, and has <a href="https://thewire.in/external-affairs/madhes-violence-nepal-india">since
refrained</a> from pressuring Nepalese authorities. The ruling elites and Madheshi leaders <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2011.576099">were critical</a> of India’s interference.</p>
<p>In short, India paid a high <a href="https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/handle/123456789/11340">strategic price</a> for the blockade.</p>
<h2>Past Indian missteps</h2>
<p>India has had similar missteps in the past. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/15718060120849189">It involved itself</a> in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, irritating both government officials and insurgents. India ultimately stepped aside, and Sri Lanka overcame its ethnic strife with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0009445514523646">Chinese military and financial assistance</a>. </p>
<p>In 1971, India intervened in the ethnic conflict in Pakistan when Bengali Muslims pursued <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909609340062">independent statehood</a> to become modern-day Bangladesh. This support escalated already tense Indian-Pakistani relations. </p>
<p>Even after Bangladesh’s independence, ethnic tensions persisted. Jumma peoples fought against the Bangladesh government’s decision <a href="https://jnu.ac.bd/journal/assets/pdf/3_2_34.pdf">to transfer</a> Bengali Muslims to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the contested homeland of Indigenous minorities. India supported their struggle by <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provision/refugees-chittagong-hill-tracts-peace-accord-cht#:%7E:text=Approximately%2070%2C000%20indigenous%20people%20fled,internally%20displaced%20persons%20within%20Bangladesh.">providing refuge</a> to the displaced Jumma people in its Tripura state. </p>
<p>All of these efforts — past and present — to support ethnic movements in neighbouring countries have failed to help India achieve major player status in the region. Instead, they resulted in tense relations with ruling governments for years.</p>
<h2>Appeasement efforts</h2>
<p>That’s why India is in the process of mending ties with the ruling elites in South Asia. Its support for the governments of Sri Lanka and Nepal gives some hints about its future direction. </p>
<p>Sri Lanka has been facing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887119000182">global criticism</a> for failing to prosecute war crimes and human rights violations that occurred during 25 years of ethnic conflict. <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0217/#:%7E:text=A%20report%20of%20the%20United,%2C%20reconciliation%20and%20human%20rights%E2%80%9D.">The United Nations Human Rights Council demanded</a> in 2023 that the government act promptly to address gross human rights violations. </p>
<p>While India supported previous UN resolutions on this issue in 2012 and 2013, it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09749284211068161">consecutively abstained</a> from supporting the last two resolutions, indicating a shift in the Indian approach towards Sri Lanka’s ethnic tensions.</p>
<p>Likewise, India has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968221135943">stayed silent</a> about the Madheshi demands in Nepal since 2015, and <a href="https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-nepal-kalapani-dialogue-ultra-nationalism">Indian parliament has passed resolutions that focus on mending ties with Nepal</a>. </p>
<p>These gestures are part of an Indian policy to <a href="https://ecfr.eu/special/what_does_india_think/analysis/modis_approach_to_india_and_pakistan">prioritize the neighbourhood</a> in its foreign relations. Based on this policy, India can be expected to seek stronger ties with other neighbouring countries too.</p>
<h2>India’s gains, minorities’ losses?</h2>
<p>These initiatives may help India minimize China’s influence in the region, but minorities will lose global backing.</p>
<p>South Asian ethnic movements have not received significant international attention and support. </p>
<p>In the past, most of the support was coming from India. In the absence of Indian backing, ethnic minorities lack substantive global allies, which their governments can capitalize upon to further ignore or oppress them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hari Har Jnawali 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.</span></em></p>India is pursuing a policy of pleasing the ruling elites in its neighbourhood, which it hopes will serve its national aspirations to become a regional powerhouse like China.Hari Har Jnawali, Instructor, Global Governance, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2189812023-12-12T08:55:11Z2023-12-12T08:55:11ZHuman trafficking, sexual abuse and exploitation: the ‘loss and damage’ from climate change a fund will not compensate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564873/original/file-20231211-23-wvorvb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1280%2C852&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A child's doll discarded during a storm.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Violence against women and children, including sexual abuse and exploitation, remains a taboo subject in the policy debates attended by international delegates at COP28, the latest round of the UN climate negotiations in Dubai. However, the connections between climate change and gender-based violence, including human trafficking, are real and already blight lives worldwide.</p>
<p>Countries at COP28 have agreed to set up a loss and damage fund which would pay poor nations for the irreparable harm caused by the deteriorating climate. How can we compensate <a href="https://theconversation.com/mental-health-distress-in-the-wake-of-bangladesh-cyclone-shows-the-devastation-of-climate-related-loss-and-damage-171712">non-economic loss and damage</a> – the impacts of climate change that cannot be easily measured in monetary terms? </p>
<p>To answer this question, we must understand how these impacts already affect people in the world’s most vulnerable regions. By <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03624-y">interviewing</a> people in Bangladesh, Fiji and Vanuatu, we found that climate change is a trigger that can worsen, intensify or prolong the perpetration of violence and coercive control.</p>
<h2>Entrapment in Bangladesh</h2>
<p>Among the girls and young women I spoke to in Bangladesh, child marriage was a common coping mechanism for the lost income and insecure food supplies associated with unpredictable weather. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101904">Storms</a>, punishing heat and unreliable rain made migration from the countryside to cities inevitable. Many migrant women and girls turned to work in the garment industry. In the factories and nearby dwellings, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207485">violence</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2147/ijwh.s137250">poor mental health</a> are especially common for female migrant workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial view of a slum with high-rise buildings bordering it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563753/original/file-20231205-15-o8sdvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bhola slum in Dhaka. Most residents migrated from Bangladesh’s disaster-prone southern coast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hunger has pushed numerous households to marry off their daughters and sisters. Belkis, a woman I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2020.1777078">interviewed</a>, described how her family struggled with poverty and health issues during her childhood after they migrated from the southern coast of Bangladesh to the capital Dhaka, escaping <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2020.100237">cyclones</a> and land erosion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I got married when I was 12 years old. A few years later I gave birth to my first son. I faced a lot of problems giving birth to him … A woman from work was a doctor so she took me to Dhaka Medical Hospital. There they did some tests and noticed that my kidneys were failing.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RTyp9t9lScc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Her sons may also need to leave school and start working. If she has a daughter, she may be forced to marry as a child. Harsh living and working conditions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0443-2">scar the health and wellbeing</a> of entire families – but hit women and children hardest.</p>
<h2>Child sexual exploitation and trafficking in Fiji</h2>
<p>Unrest swept Fiji in 2021 after a ten-year-old girl on Vanua Levu, one of the islands in the north east, was raped by her uncle in a cyclone shelter. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. </p>
<p>The incident was not an isolated event. Women we spoke to in Nadi, a city on Fiji’s main island, describe rapes in shelters and report children being trafficked for sexual purposes after the floods.</p>
<p>Overcrowded shelters create unsafe conditions. Many of the toilets have windows but no doors, let alone locks. Disaster evaluation reports also indicate that many emergency responders in Fiji lack necessary training to identify signs of abuse (sexual or otherwise) and so are unable to prevent further violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A boy sat surrounded by corrugated iron pouring a bucket of water over his head." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563775/original/file-20231205-23-12w9aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Informal sanitation can be a safety risk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lusi*, a Red Cross health coordinator, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Women are more vulnerable to violence in the wake of cyclones. In tents and makeshift shelters, there’s a lack of privacy and proper lighting, which makes it harder to stay safe.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nasele*, a 22-year old woman that we interviewed in Nadi, explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the dark [women] have to go out and this places [them] in unsafe conditions. In evacuation centres, women and children get exposed to sexual dangers – children’s rights are ignored. In this country, disaster management [offers no] quick recovery for women and children.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nacanieli*, a Save the Children officer working in Nadi observed trafficking, sexual exploitation and violence:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The woman moved her family to Nadi to live with her new [Australian] husband. One year later, she returned to our office and told the SCF staff [that]…her new husband had moved the family to Australia and upon their arrival they were held captive in his house. She told me about the sexual exploitation of her oldest daughter (she was 14 years old at the time). …The woman was too scared to go to the police and lived in fear while in Australia. She and her children eventually fled the country with the help of a neighbour. The oldest daughter is now involved in prostitution in Nadi … We saw the scars of what looked like needle marks and cigarette burns on the woman and all four of her children.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In recent years, tourist hotspots such as Nadi in Fiji have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03624-y">seen a peak</a> in child sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation, primarily by perpetrators from Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe.</p>
<h2>Loss and healing in Vanuatu</h2>
<p>Women in Vanuatu found recovery and healing in their social networks, which stuck together and aided their recovery from cyclones and drought. The women ensured there was support for the most in need, such as widows and people living with disabilities.</p>
<p>Women and children may be more vulnerable, but they should not be seen as passive victims. In Vanuatu, ideals that are typically considered to be feminine traits – such as inclusiveness and caring for the weak – were strengths that supported the entire population’s <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781032275611-25/women-stories-loss-recovery-climatic-events-pacific-islands-rachel-clissold-karen-mcnamara">recovery</a> from natural hazards.</p>
<p>Research such as ours gathers local experiences of non-economic loss and damage. Despite this, few climate change studies apply similar people-centred approaches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl decorating her friend's arm with henna." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563770/original/file-20231205-19-21gzl6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vanuatu’s woman-led recovery networks are a model for post-disaster mutual aid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a problem because loss and damage is never entirely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03053-9">environmental</a>. As well as the destruction of land, crops or livestock, loss and damage must come to include child marriage, sexual violence, coercive and controlling behaviour, human trafficking and exploitation. </p>
<p>By widening our understanding of what loss and damage means, we can support more people more thoroughly. We must all learn from the women in Vanuatu by caring for those in need and healing collectively from the trauma of climate-related violence.</p>
<p>Losses and damages to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102594">wellbeing</a> and dignity can never be wholly measured and compensated within a market.</p>
<p><em>*Aliases were used to protect people’s identity.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson receives funding from The Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre led by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and is funded by the Art and Humanities Research Council on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).</span></em></p>Though hard to quantify, the social consequences of climate change are vast.Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Associate Professor in Policy and Intersectionality, UCL & Honorary Senior Researcher, United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178502023-11-23T12:56:40Z2023-11-23T12:56:40ZWe rarely hear about the disasters that were avoided – but there’s a lot we can learn from them<p>When a huge cyclone slammed into East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(72)91218-4/fulltext">November 1970</a> it caused water in the Ganges Delta to rise by 10 metres. Entire towns were submerged. At least 300,000 people died – it remains atop lists of the deadliest known tropical cyclones.</p>
<p>Something similar happened <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.1993.tb00503.x">in 1991</a> – another 139,000 deaths. Bangladesh has a long list of cyclones with five or six figure death tolls.</p>
<p>These days, Bangladesh has a much larger population and is still getting hit by huge cyclones and widespread flooding. These storms are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0008-6">getting stronger</a>. But these more <a href="https://theconversation.com/bangladesh-has-saved-thousands-of-lives-from-a-devastating-cyclone-heres-how-139903">recent cyclones</a> have each led to only dozens of deaths.</p>
<p>This is what prompted our research project on “<a href="https://disastersavoided.com">Disasters Avoided</a>”. We frequently see headlines about disasters. But where are the headlines covering the good news of lives saved and damage averted when disasters do not happen? Our work, now published, offers examples we can learn from.</p>
<p>We started by seeking examples of <a href="https://disastersavoided.com/case-studies-list">disasters that had been avoided</a>. There had to be a major environmental hazard – such as a tornado, earthquake, drought, wildfire, pathogen, landslide, volcanic eruption or heatwave – that didn’t lead to major casualties or disruption. And that had to be because disaster prevention actions were completed before the hazard struck.</p>
<p>In total, we looked in-depth at a dozen examples covering every inhabited continent. Some of the examples we found were very local. For instance a poorly extinguished campfire <a href="https://www.earthdatascience.org/courses/use-data-open-source-python/data-stories/cold-springs-wildfire/">ignited a wildfire</a> in the mountains of Colorado in July 2016. No one died, but 2,000 people were evacuated and eight houses completely burned.</p>
<p>Eight other houses in the torched forest survived. They were all certified by an NGO called <a href="https://wildfirepartners.org/">Wildfire Partners</a> as having taken its advice on using fire-resistant materials, removing fire-prone vegetation and storing woodpiles away from the house. While one homeowner was able to reoccupy their house immediately, their neighbour had to start rebuilding from scratch.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Burned out suburban neighbourhood" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560764/original/file-20231121-4286-9r92rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aftermath of a 2021 fire in Colorado. Most homes are burned to the ground, but some are almost untouched.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/superior-co-january-17-2022-aerial-2109993011">Gabe Shakour / shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-06-2022-0135">Other examples</a> are wider-scale. The reduction in cyclone deaths in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25373-7_3">Bangladesh</a> was thanks to a long-term education, preparedness, warning, evacuation and sheltering programme. Actions included making schools a relatively safe place for people to shelter in, and giving volunteers megaphones to cycle around villages warning people. The death count should still be reduced much more, but the improvement over time is clear.</p>
<p>Vietnam also experiences major floods every year, with almost 12 million coastal people exposed. <a href="http://gcfundp-coastalresilience.com.vn/">One five-year project</a> is providing 4,000 flood-resilient houses, while planting coastal mangroves to deal with storm surges. In late 2019, storm Matmo struck Quang Ngai, destroying many houses. Many new flood-resilient houses survived, keeping people safe and supporting agriculture-based livelihoods.</p>
<h2>Scaling up</h2>
<p>Individual case studies are important. But if they are to be useful we need to identify what they can teach us, so we can scale up the local and national successes and transfer lessons to other places. We found six overall patterns:</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="How to avoid disasters diagram" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560769/original/file-20231121-17-979p4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What to do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gareth Byatt, Ilan Kelman, and Ana Prados</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>The right mindset</strong> to tackle the root causes of disasters and to focus on avoiding them. The right mindset includes understanding that disasters do not come from nature, so we <a href="https://nonaturaldisasters.com/">do not use the phrase “natural disaster”</a>. They are just disasters. They come from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/disaster-by-choice-9780198841357">the choices</a> we make to live and build in harm’s way, or more frequently to force people to live and work in harm’s way, without having the political power, resources, or opportunities to help themselves deal with hazards.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>The right investment</strong> at the right time, including showing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2014.08.004">the evidence</a> that it’s money well spent.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Good governance</strong> means well-managed investments and funds that deliver meaningful social, environmental, and livelihood benefits. It promotes actions that must be informed, accountable, and enforced.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Good data</strong> directs good decision-making. We should collect, analyse and act on good data. This data can take many forms and includes the obvious demographic and economic stats, but also observations from satellites, drones, or on-the-ground instruments, or people’s perceptions and experiences.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Meaningful inclusion</strong> of everyone, to agree on how we create a society that can withstand and live with nature’s energies and forces.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Targets that are realistic and achievable</strong> with the available resources. When appropriate, targets can be set, managed and linked to global efforts including the <a href="https://www.undrr.org/publication/sendai-framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030">Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction</a>, the UN’s <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a>, climate change agreements, and those on <a href="https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/">urban</a>, and <a href="https://www.csis.org/programs/humanitarian-agenda">humanitarian</a> agendas.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These principles also reveal that not all disasters avoided are due to forethinking. Luck can play a role – in some cases, a disaster was avoided simply because there weren’t many humans living in the hazard-affected area. In other cases a disaster was avoided because short-term actions were taken (safe evacuation and sheltering, for instance), and other times because longer-term actions were taken (such as supporting flexible livelihoods that could be restarted immediately after a major hazard).</p>
<p>These categories indicate how we could and should do better, especially by trying to encourage active work towards longer-term planning and preparedness.</p>
<p><a href="http://disastersavoided.com/">Our work on disasters avoided continues</a>, highlighting that everyone needs to be involved. We are documenting <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/8bbcaf75/files/uploaded/Enterprise-Risk-Autumn-2023-Avoding-a-disaster.pdf">private sector examples of successes</a> while describing the importance of innovation. </p>
<p>Overall, the baseline that we see time and again in avoiding a disaster is that success comes when a wide variety of people and groups come together in a symphony of action. Disasters are avoided when everyone cares for everyone.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 20,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilan Kelman receives research funding from UK research councils, the Wellcome Trust, and NASA who partly supported the research reported here, as well as internal UCL funding. He is Professor II at the University of Agder in Norway, Visiting Researcher at Heidelberg Institute of Global Health in Germany, and co-directs the non-profit organisation Risk RED (Risk Reduction Education for Disasters).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Prados receives funding from NASA, who funded part of the research conducted for this article. She is a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gareth Byatt receives research funding from NASA who partly supported the research reported here. He is an independent consultant and a member of the Institute for Risk Management (the IRM).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brady Podloski 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.</span></em></p>We rarely see good news headlines when a cyclone, earthquake or wildfire does not turn disastrous.Ilan Kelman, Professor of Disasters and Health, UCLAna Prados, Senior Research Scientist, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyBrady Podloski, Instructor, Disaster and Emergency Management, Northern Alberta Institute of TechnologyGareth Byatt, Independent Consultant and Visiting Lecturer, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2127402023-11-03T17:32:50Z2023-11-03T17:32:50ZThe climate crisis is making gender inequality in developing coastal communities worse<p>Across the world, women and men experience the impacts of the climate crisis in different ways. These are shaped by societal roles and responsibilities and result in <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-crisis-could-reverse-progress-in-achieving-gender-equality-127787">widening inequalities</a> between men and women. </p>
<p>Sea-level rise, storm surges and high waves in coastal area do not discriminate, but societal structures often do. This makes climate change a highly gender-sensitive issue.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/">Research</a> has long shown that coastal areas are the most directly affected by climate change. Small islands in Asia, central and South America and Africa – what many term “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-global-south-is-on-the-rise-but-what-exactly-is-the-global-south-207959">the global south</a>” – are particularly vulnerable to land erosion and economic decline, amid livelihood losses in fisheries. </p>
<p><a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/geography/pgr/11413/andi-misbahul-pratiwi">My doctoral research</a> explores how in countries where women and girls already face disproportionate inequalities relating to ethnicity, class, age and education, the climate crisis is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-womens-environmental-action-across-the-global-south-can-create-a-better-planet-214083">making things worse</a>. In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19480881.2010.536669">coastal areas</a>, in particular, women and girls are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378006000422">ever more vulnerable</a>.</p>
<h2>Livelihoods under threat</h2>
<p>In 2017, in collaboration with the <a href="https://indonesianfeministjournal.org/">Indonesian Feminist Journal</a>, I conducted <a href="https://indonesianfeministjournal.org/index.php/IFJ/article/view/203/259">research</a> off the coast of Demak in Java, Indonesia. I found that women in coastal communities faced multiple problems, from poverty and <a href="https://wrd.unwomen.org/explore/insights/how-fisherwomen-java-rise-above-climate-change-and-increase-gender-based-violence">domestic and gender-based violence</a> to employment challenges. </p>
<p>Fisherwomen who work at sea are having to sail further out and contend with difficult conditions to find catches. One woman, Zarokah, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzSyPW2D73o">I interviewed</a> had started fishing with her husband, two years earlier, when he could no longer find a crew to work with. They wake at 3am to head out to sea. </p>
<p>She told me a basket of tiny flying fish goes for 150,000 rupiah (£7.70) and a good haul will yield several baskets. But even when they don’t catch anything, they still have to cover the cost of supplies and equipment. <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2022/10/24/warming-seas-bring-indonesias-fishermen-deadly-storms-empty-nets.html">This income is inadequate</a> when faced with a situation where fish are becoming scarcer and extreme weather prevents them from going out to sea.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gzSyPW2D73o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/196016/">I have shown</a> how women in this area and beyond have contributed significantly to the fishing sector and coastal economies. And yet, Masnu'ah, who is the founder of a local fisherwomen’s organisation, told me that women’s economic role continues to not be recognised by their male peers and society more broadly. </p>
<p>Zarokah is still labelled a “housewife” on her ID card, despite the fact that, as she put it, “If I don’t go, my husband doesn’t go either and we cannot meet our needs.”</p>
<p>If the fisherwomen do not receive recognition for their work, they are unable to access social protections including <a href="https://www.undp.org/indonesia/news/fisherwomen-fisherman%E2%80%99s-world-improving-access-women-indonesian-fisheries">life insurance</a>. As climate change increasingly threatens the profession at large, having state support and insurance is vital. </p>
<h2>Access to amenities and healthcare</h2>
<p>It’s not just women’s livelihoods in this area that are impacted by extreme weather and any other disruptions to the fishing industry. <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2023/07/25/slow-disaster-residents-in-central-javas-sinking-village-forced-to-adapt.html">Tidal flooding</a> has also made it difficult for women and girls to access healthcare facilities. </p>
<p>Women find it difficult to access clinics because the roads are closed and isolated. One activist in Demak told me about helping a woman give birth in the middle of a tidal flood – when the houses were sinking. “It was very difficult,” she said, “because the waves were high, there were no boats. The baby died two to three days after.” </p>
<p>Research from other regions in the world show a similar pattern of increasing vulnerability. In the south-western coastal region of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bangladesh-is-undertaking-the-worlds-largest-resettlement-programme-and-the-climate-is-making-it-harder-208664">Bangladesh</a>, natural hazards, including storm surges and <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-isnt-just-making-cyclones-worse-its-making-the-floods-they-cause-worse-too-new-research-182789">cyclones</a>, have long affected women significantly. Of the 140,000 people killed in the 1991 cyclone disaster, <a href="https://lib.icimod.org/record/13783/files/1337.pdf">90% were women</a>.</p>
<p>However, the impacts are broader than that. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3744">A recent study</a> looked at women’s lives, particularly among the ethnic Munda community, in the Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat districts. It found that bad management of open-water sources (ponds and canals) has led to high water salinity. Women and girls, who are responsible for family provisions, have to walk up to 3km – and sometimes as far as 5km – to find drinking water.</p>
<p>They spend long hours carrying heavy water pots, which leads to chronic pain conditions. During droughts, this task can take over three hours daily. The women and girls also face harassment from boys and men while collecting the water.</p>
<p>A 2020 study in Ilaje, a coastal region in Nigeria, found that, there too, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619338855#abs0010">women and girls</a> often bear the responsibility of ensuring there’s enough food, fuel and clean water available at home. During times of low rainfall or drought, they have to cover similarly long distances. Young girls sometimes have to leave school in order to help their mothers with these tasks.</p>
<p>Pregnant women in Ilaje, particularly, are vulnerable to health effects like malnutrition, dehydration, anemia, and other health risks related to low food and water availability during crises.</p>
<p>Due to prevailing patriarchal norms, Ilaje women lack the authority to make independent decisions within their families and in society. They don’t have control over financial matters and assets. And they are not given opportunities to participate in public spaces, in particular within community group discussions on climate change adaptation. As a result, they are unable to voice their specific concerns and needs – at both family and community levels. </p>
<p>Oceans and coastal ecosystems cover over two thirds of the planet. They <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/">play a crucial role</a> in food and energy production as well as creating employment opportunities. About <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Ocean_Factsheet_People.pdf">600 million people</a> – around 10% of the world’s population – reside in coastal areas that are less than 10 metres above sea level. </p>
<p>The central tenet of the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development is to “leave no one behind”. Applying a <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/196019/">feminist political lens</a> to the climate crisis is crucial to understanding how multilayered the problems facing women and girls in rural and coastal regions around the world are. </p>
<p>Yet, social and feminist research on how the climate is changing has been <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2010.01889.x">scarce</a>. Without it, women and girls will indeed be left behind. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 20,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andi Misbahul Pratiwi 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.</span></em></p>Sea-level rises and storm surges don’t discriminate, but societal structures do.Andi Misbahul Pratiwi, PhD Candidate, School of Geography, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150082023-10-06T15:47:18Z2023-10-06T15:47:18ZDengue: why is this sometimes fatal disease increasing around the world?<p>Something unusual seems to be happening with dengue, a potentially fatal mosquito-borne viral disease found across swathes of tropical Africa, Asia and the Americas. As with most infectious diseases, the number of cases tends to rise and fall over the years as epidemics come and go, but recently changes seem to be afoot in how dengue is behaving. </p>
<p>Not only is the number of new infections <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1138962#:%7E:text=Cases%20rising%20fast,more%20and%20more%20accurate%20figures.%E2%80%9D">steadily rising around the world</a>, but outbreaks are becoming larger and less predictable. For example, 2019 saw the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue">greatest number of dengue fever cases ever recorded</a> – almost twice as high as the previous year. And in July 2023, there were a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/2/bangladesh-dengue-deaths-cross-1000-in-worst-outbreak-on-record">record number of deaths</a> from the disease in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>Most people infected with dengue will suffer from <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/symptoms/index.html">flu-like symptoms</a>, ranging from relatively mild to very unpleasant, with fever, headache and joint pain. </p>
<p>In more severe cases, though, blood vessels can become damaged by the virus, allowing blood to leak into the surrounding tissues. This condition, known as <a href="https://www.msdmanuals.com/en-gb/professional/infectious-diseases/arboviruses,-arenaviridae,-and-filoviridae/dengue-hemorrhagic-fever-dengue-shock-syndrome">dengue haemorrhagic fever</a>, can produce bruising, and bleeding from the nose and gums. It can ultimately lead to organ failure and death as the body slips into shock.</p>
<p>The principal agent, or vector, in the transmission of dengue, is the Asian Tiger mosquito <em>Aedes aegypti</em>, although its cousin <em>Aedes albopictus</em> is also capable of spreading the virus. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aedes aegypti mosquito on human skin" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552539/original/file-20231006-25-sfj0l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Aedes aegypti</em> mosquitoes are the main spreaders of dengue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zica-virus-aedes-aegypti-mosquito-on-369189926">Tacio Philip Sansonovski/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While <em>Aedes aegypti</em> is essentially a tropical mosquito, it is a very adaptable insect. In recent years, it has expanded its range out of the tropics into <a href="https://theconversation.com/dengue-in-france-tropical-diseases-in-europe-may-not-be-that-rare-for-much-longer-191033">southern Europe</a> and to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/areaswithrisk/in-the-us.html">several states</a> in the US, including Florida, Hawaii, Texas and Arizona.</p>
<p>All mosquitos need water to breed, but another thing that has helped in its migration is its ability to use even the smallest of water containers to do so, something as small as a discarded plastic bottle cap will do. </p>
<p>Despite this capability, it is usually the lack of breeding sites that caps the number of mosquitoes in circulation and therefore their ability to spread the dengue virus. But in Bangladesh this year the rains arrived early and, coupled with an unusually high temperature and humidity, this led <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bangladesh-dengue-deaths-top-1000-worst-outbreak-2023-10-02/">mosquito numbers to surge</a>. </p>
<p>Because a large proportion of the population of Bangladesh spends a great deal of time outside and tends to have houses that are relatively simple for mosquitoes to enter, it took little time at all for dengue to take hold and then explode. </p>
<p>Although no one is certain about what’s driving the increase and instability of dengue, climate change may be contributing as much of the world is getting both warmer and wetter.</p>
<p>Fortunately for most high-income countries, even areas within the current range of <em>Aedes Aegypti</em>, climate change will probably not lead to any major outbreaks simply because people spend so much of their time indoors and out of the reach of mosquitos. It takes a certain amount of biting pressure within a population to sustain transmission. </p>
<h2>WHO warns of dengue spread to new places</h2>
<p>However, a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/dengue-will-take-off-southern-europe-us-africa-this-decade-who-scientist-says-2023-10-06/">new report</a> by the World Health Organization’s chief scientist suggests that the disease may still be able to establish itself in parts of Europe, the US and Africa where it has previously been absent. </p>
<p>Something that is also likely to be seen more often is what happened recently in Bangladesh repeats itself across similar middle- and low-income countries where the opportunity for mosquitoes and people to mix is greater. </p>
<p>The solution is likely to be an affordable and effective vaccine. Indeed, the WHO has recently <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/05-10-2023-message-by-the-director-of-the-department-of-immunization--vaccines-and-biologicals-at-who---september-2023">recommended the Qdenga vaccine for children</a> living in areas where the infection is a major public health problem. </p>
<p>However, dengue is not the only concern as there are a variety of other mosquito-borne infections that kill around a million people every year. Diseases like <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chikungunya">chikungunya</a>, <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/yellow-fever">yellow fever</a> and Zika virus are all transmitted by <em>Aedes aegypti</em>. </p>
<p>An increasingly warmer, wetter and less reliable climate is therefore probably going to be the precursor for many more – and less predictable – mosquito-related disease outbreaks, and ultimately deaths, in the future. As with most other life-threatening communicable diseases, it is once again the poorest communities in the global tropics that will have to bear the brunt of this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Bishop 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.</span></em></p>Something unusual seems to be happening with dengue, a potentially fatal mosquito-borne viral disease.Simon Bishop, Associate Professor, Faculty of Health, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069232023-08-01T21:00:35Z2023-08-01T21:00:35ZLearning from Lululemon: If Canada wants to get serious about forced labour, disclosure laws won’t do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531197/original/file-20230609-15-z5uk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C5711%2C3274&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A recent investigation into Lululemon casts doubt on the ability of Canada's new Modern Slavery Act to tackle labour abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/learning-from-lululemon-if-canada-wants-to-get-serious-about-forced-labour-disclosure-laws-wont-do" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Canadian government recently passed <a href="https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/S-211/third-reading">the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act</a>. The new law is designed to address forced labour and child labour in supply chains by requiring companies to disclose their efforts in eliminating labour abuse from their supply chains. </p>
<p>The legislation, known colloquially as Canada’s Modern Slavery Act, does not require large Canadian companies to actually take actions to prevent or reduce the risk of forced labour and child labour in their supply chains.</p>
<p>The act also doesn’t hold companies accountable when forced labour is found. Similar weak disclosure laws in <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/SB657">California</a>, <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted">the United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153">Australia</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12512">have already been found to be ineffective</a> by academic researchers.</p>
<p>Our recent investigation at the <a href="https://gflc.ca/">Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains Project</a> into the Canadian apparel company Lululemon Athletica casts doubt on the ability of this new law to tackle labour abuse.</p>
<p>The new law falls short of what is required to make large corporations exercise due diligence to prevent labour abuse from occurring within their supply chains. </p>
<h2>Remembering Rana Plaza</h2>
<p>This new Canadian law comes a decade after the tragic collapse of the nine-storey Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh that killed nearly 1,130 garment workers and injured over 2,500. The disaster <a href="https://theconversation.com/years-after-the-rana-plaza-tragedy-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-bottom-of-the-pile-159224">raised concerns about the ability of voluntary corporate initiatives</a> to address labour rights violations and protect workers.</p>
<p>In response to the tragedy, an agreement between brands, retailers and trade unions called <a href="https://wsr-network.org/success-stories/accord-on-fire-and-building-safety-in-bangladesh">the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh</a> was established. The accord was designed to improve workplace safety and prevent future accidents in the garment sector. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people march down a street with protest signs and a large banner written in Bengali." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531194/original/file-20230609-22144-k2hwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bangladeshi garment workers, activists and relatives of workers participate in a protest marking the four-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh in August 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Building on this initiative, <a href="https://internationalaccord.org/about-us">the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry</a> — with 198 brand and retailer signatories — was introduced in 2021.</p>
<p>Remarkably, only one Canadian garment company — <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2023/04/29/10-years-after-the-rana-plaza-disaster-canada-needs-to-do-more-to-protect-worker-rights.html">Loblaw Companies Ltd., the parent company of the Joe Fresh brand</a> — has signed the accord. Other Canadian companies prefer their own voluntary initiatives. </p>
<p>Legislation aimed at addressing forced labour in supply chains has the potential to address these weak corporate initiatives — but only if the law is strong enough.</p>
<h2>Lululemon report</h2>
<p>Our report, <a href="https://gflc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Lululemons-Conundrum_GFLC_final.pdf"><em>Lululemon’s Conundrum: Good Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives and the Persistence of Forced Labour</em></a>, examines Lululemon’s efforts to address potential labour abuse in its supply chain.</p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://knowthechain.org/about-us/">KnowTheChain</a> — which evaluates companies’ efforts to address forced labour risks in their supply chains based on international labour standards — <a href="https://knowthechain.org/wp-content/uploads/2021-KTC-AF-Benchmark-Report.pdf">ranked Lululemon first among 129 apparel and footwear companies</a> for its measures to address forced labour risks. </p>
<p>Despite being recognized as an industry leader in this area, an investigation by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in England found that <a href="https://www.shu.ac.uk/helena-kennedy-centre-international-justice/research-and-projects/all-projects/laundered-cotton">Lululemon was at a high risk of sourcing from the Xinjiang region</a> in China — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/un-expert-concludes-forced-labour-has-taken-place-xinjiang-2022-08-18/">which has been associated with forced labour and human rights abuses</a> — that same year.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/responses-to-uflpa-outreach/">response to this accusation</a>, Lululemon stated it had zero tolerance for forced labour, was committed to all the workers in its global supply chain and regularly monitored vendors globally through a due diligence process.</p>
<h2>Lululemon supplier concerns</h2>
<p>Lululemon does not own or operate any of the manufacturing or raw materials facilities used to make its apparel. <a href="https://corporate.lululemon.com/%7E/media/Files/L/Lululemon/lululemonSupplierListFinal050923.pdf">Its April 2023 supplier list</a> revealed the company sourced from suppliers located in four out of the 10 <a href="https://files.mutualcdn.com/ituc/files/ITUC_GlobalRightsIndex_2021_EN_Final.pdf">worst countries for workers’ rights violations</a> according to the 2021 Global Rights Index created by International Trade Union Confederation: Bangladesh, Colombia, the Philippines and Turkey.</p>
<p>According to the supplier list, one of Lululemon’s largest manufacturing facilities is in Bangladesh, with over 13,000 workers — 70 per cent of whom are women. Despite this, Lululemon has not signed the 2021 International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person wearing a face mask and work uniform picks a large spook of yarn up from a pile" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540249/original/file-20230731-271165-grpb0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A worker packages spools of cotton yarn at a Huafu Fashion plant, as seen during a government organized trip for foreign journalists, in Aksu in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in April 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/reports/charter-link-clark-inc">Two reports found that from 2018 to 2019</a>, workers at a Lululemon supplier factory had to work two to three nights without being allowed to go home or take necessary breaks. </p>
<p>While a <a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Charter-Link-Verification-Report-MO-Final-4-27-22.pdf">2022 follow-up investigation</a> determined this situation had been rectified by Lululemon and the supplier, some workers reported they still felt unable to refuse overtime requests.</p>
<p>According to the follow-up report, the supplier at the same factory also engaged in serious union-busting tactics, including firing the union’s elected leaders and reports from workers that some managers had threatened to close the factory if the workers unionized.</p>
<p>The follow-up report found that while many of the anti-union issues had been addressed, some supervisors reportedly made comments that could be construed as still discouraging workers from joining the union.</p>
<h2>Corporate transparency issues</h2>
<p><a href="https://corporate.lululemon.com/our-impact/reporting-and-governance/reporting-and-disclosure/policies-and-guidelines">Lululemon has several codes and policies in place to address forced labour</a>. One is the Lululemon Global Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which states that employees and vendors are to adhere to labour and employment standards in the countries they operate in, unless the code sets a higher standard.</p>
<p>Employees are encouraged to report any violations to this code internally through Lululemon or externally using third-party tools such as the international Integrity Line. This phone line allows employees to anonymously report complaints at any time. </p>
<p>However, third-party complaint avenues pose challenges, including requiring tech access, trusting unfamiliar third parties and filing a complaint that protects one’s anonymity while still providing enough detail about worker issues.</p>
<p>Another code Lululemon has in place is the <a href="https://corporate.lululemon.com/%7E/media/Files/L/Lululemon/our-impact/vendor-code-of-ethics/vcoe-supporting-benchmarks.pdf">Vendor Code of Ethics</a> and its accompanying Benchmarks policy.
Vendors are responsible for enforcing key aspects of the code of ethics, including creating grievance and disciplinary systems for violations and training workers on the policy’s content. When vendors use subcontractors, they are the ones responsible for ensuring subcontractors adhere to the policy.</p>
<p>While Lululemon can conduct unannounced visits to monitor their compliance with the Vendor Code of Ethics, this is rarely done. Only <a href="https://pnimages.lululemon.com/content/dam/lululemon/www-images/Footer/Sustainability/lululemonKnowTheChainDisclosure_20210302.pdf">one per cent of assessments in 2019 were unannounced</a>. Lululemon also works with third-party auditors sometimes, which can be problematic since these auditors rely on their clients to stay in business, <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501754524/private-regulation-of-labor-standards-in-global-supply-chains/">raising questions about the authenticity of auditing reports</a>.</p>
<h2>Reliance on local labour laws</h2>
<p>Lululemon’s measures to address forced labour largely rely on the labour laws in the countries in which the suppliers are located. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2021.2008763">Relying on local labour laws is a major shortcoming of many corporate initiatives</a>, since they often fall short of international legal norms and are not well enforced.</p>
<p>In California, the United Kingdom and Australia, Lululemon is required by law to report on its efforts to detect, remedy and eradicate forced labour in its supply chains. However, the information necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives is not available to researchers, the public or workers.</p>
<p>Crucial information about all the participants and purchasing practices in a supply chain, such as the amount of lead time suppliers are given for orders and whether suppliers get paid on time, are not provided. Additionally, information on how workers navigate Lululemon’s policies and grievance mechanisms is not publicly available.</p>
<h2>Due diligence legislation needed</h2>
<p>Our study raises concerns about the effectiveness of current transparency and disclosure laws as an effective tool for combating forced labour in supply chains. </p>
<p>Disclosure laws, like those in Canada’s new act, will not require Lululemon to reveal the type of information needed to ensure its suppliers are not abusing workers. Nor does the new law require large multinational corporations to take any steps to eradicate labour abuses in the supply chains.</p>
<p>Our study suggests disclosure laws are a form of window dressing that can be used by companies to project an image of social responsibility to consumers, rather than genuinely improving the working conditions for supply chain workers.</p>
<p>It’s time to require companies to take real steps to rid their supply chains of labour abuse. If Canada is to truly eradicate force labour in global supply chains, it needs mandatory due diligence legislation that involves supply chain workers at every stage of the process — before another disaster like Rana Plaza occurs.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Prior to publishing this story, The Conversation sought comment from Lululemon about how the company is complying with the new Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, as well as some other issues raised in this article. Lululemon did not respond.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judy Fudge receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gayathri Krishna and Kaitlyn Matulewicz do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study suggests disclosure laws to prevent forced labour in the clothing industry are a form of window dressing designed to ease the conscience of consumers rather than protecting workers.Gayathri Krishna, PhD Candidate, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityJudy Fudge, LIUNA Enrico Henry Mancinelli Chair of Global Labour Issues, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityKaitlyn Matulewicz, Researcher, Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains ProjectLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086642023-07-31T11:44:08Z2023-07-31T11:44:08ZBangladesh is undertaking the world’s largest resettlement programme – and the climate is making it harder<p>Bangladesh is <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-impacts-in-bangladesh-show-how-geography-wealth-and-culture-affect-vulnerability-128207">particularly vulnerable</a> to climate extremes. The nation’s <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/bangladesh-climate-and-disaster-risk-atlas-exposures-vulnerabilities-and-risks">topography</a> lays its citizens bare to cyclones, flash floods, erosion and drought – not to mention the <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/841911468331803769/pdf/702660v10ESW0P0IC000EACC0Bangladesh.pdf">significant socio-economic impact</a> these bring. </p>
<p>Agricultural economist GM Monirul Alam showed, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-017-0826-3">in a 2017 study</a>, that with more than 230 tidally active rivers and waterways, 20 of the country’s 64 districts are extremely vulnerable to <a href="https://theconversation.com/rivers-are-changing-all-the-time-and-it-affects-their-capacity-to-contain-floods-126659">river-bank erosion</a>. Every year, a total of 8,700 hectares of land is lost, with river channels shifting by as much as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/214303?origin=crossref&seq=1">300 meters</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-liveability-rankings-tell-a-biased-story-our-research-in-dhaka-explains-why-208262">displacing</a> 200,000 people as a result. </p>
<p>In 2018, a report for the World Bank <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/2be91c76-d023-5809-9c94-d41b71c25635">estimated</a> that if appropriate mitigation measures are not taken to prepare for climate extremes, as many as <a href="https://www.climate-refugees.org/spotlight/2022/6/29/bangladesh-flooding#:%7E:text=A%20recent%20World%20Bank%20report,could%20be%20displaced%20by%202050.">13.3 million</a> people could face displacement within Bangladesh by 2050. With the population expected to reach <a href="https://bangladesh.unfpa.org/en/node/24314">220 million </a>by then, that would equate to 6% being made homeless.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/bangladeshs-management-disasters-still-has-room-improvement-3330916">Disaster preparedness</a> and relief have always been a key focus for the Bangladeshi government since <a href="https://guwahati.mofa.gov.bd/en/site/page/Father-of-the-Nation-Bangabandhu-Sheikh-Mujibur-Rahman">independence</a> in 1972. The <a href="https://pmo.gov.bd/site/page/fabe0f09-3ed1-47b0-8545-14e6369a1b85/Ashrayan-:-poverty-alleviation-and-sustainable-development">Ashrayan</a> programme, launched in 1997, seeks to build new homes for people who are homeless and landless. It now stands as the <a href="https://pmo.gov.bd/site/page/fabe0f09-3ed1-47b0-8545-14e6369a1b85/Ashrayan-:-poverty-alleviation-and-sustainable-development">biggest project of its kind</a> globally.</p>
<p>By 2022, it had helped <a href="https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/pm-hand-over-32904-houses-homeless-families-eid-gifts-408846">507,244 families</a> resettle at a cost of $355.13 million (£297.98 million). </p>
<p>For my doctoral research, I have studied Bangladesh’s response to climate-related migration, conducting interviews with public officials and other people impacted by the project. I have found that when structures are built at speed, without the necessary support system in place, communities’ vulnerability to the climate crisis only increases.</p>
<h2>What is an Ashrayan?</h2>
<p>The Ashrayan, which means “to shelter” in Bengali, stems from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s longstanding vision of <a href="https://www.daily-sun.com/post/644820/Ashrayan-viewed-as-Sheikh-Hasina-Model-for-inclusive-development">inclusive</a> development. Hasina, who first came to power in 1996, and was re-elected in 2009 and again in 2014, has <a href="https://albd.org/articles/news/38829/Not-a-single-person-will-be-left-homeless:-HPM-Sheikh-Hasina">repeatedly stated her goal</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No-one will be left without address or homeless and landless.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>An Ashrayan comprises anything from a few dozen barrack houses to several hundred, depending on the land available and the scale of the site. The <a href="https://pmo.gov.bd/site/page/fabe0f09-3ed1-47b0-8545-14e6369a1b85/Ashrayan-:-poverty-alleviation-and-sustainable-development">standard house</a> features two to three rooms, a kitchen, a toilet and a small veranda. </p>
<p>Joint ownership of the land can be awarded in the name of both the wife and husband. Special priority is given to widows, disabled people and the elderly.</p>
<p>The development approach is about much more than just construction. It seeks to implement what development experts and urban planners term “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420922002928">people-centric</a> <a href="https://pmo.gov.bd/site/page/fabe0f09-3ed1-47b0-8545-14e6369a1b85/Ashrayan-:-poverty-alleviation-and-sustainable-development">rehabilitation</a>”. Residents have access to technical training courses and micro-credit programmes, as well as community centres and prayer halls. </p>
<p>Going by numbers of people who have been rehoused – around <a href="https://www.bssnews.net/news/126405">554,597 families</a> to date – the success of the programme is evident. However, critics point to the project’s failure to take geographical specificities and cultural nuances into consideration when Ashrayans are built. This, in turn, is hampering efforts to achieve policy objectives. </p>
<p>First, as noted in 2022 by urban planners <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420922002928">at Khulna University</a>, local agricultural, ecological and geological knowledge was not being taken into account in the spatial planning process. This oversight in selecting safe sites means residents, and the infrastructure they rely on, are <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/built-crumble-2136161">even more vulnerable</a>. </p>
<p>This was made clear when <a href="https://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2020/05/21/cyclone-amphan-83-000-homes-destroyed-in-khulna">cyclone Amphan hit in 2020</a>. Several barracks were severely damaged. </p>
<p>The following year, in 2021, seven of the 22 homes in a Bogra district Ashrayan, in Rajshahi, collapsed after moderate rains caused subsidence. News reports highlighted the <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/ashrayan-project-2-seven-houses-collapse-after-moderate-rain-2121529">poor construction</a> of the barracks and the fact that they had been built on the sandy soil of a canal bank. </p>
<p>Second, observers have noted inconsistencies in how <a href="https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/Khulna-Ashrayan-projects-turn-uninhabitable">basic infrastructure</a> is constructed. Without a proper drainage system, untreated sewage and waste is allowed to run off into nearby bodies of water, on which communities depend for water and fishing for a livelihood.</p>
<p>Little consideration has been given to where Ashrayan sites are <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/3/76">located</a> in terms of the residents’ chances of employment, access to <a href="https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/Khulna-Ashrayan-projects-turn-uninhabitable">affordable healthcare</a> and <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/climate-disasters-bangladesh-children-work/">education</a>. When families are unable to make ends meet, children often <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/climate-disasters-bangladesh-children-work/">drop out</a> of school to work in jute mills, shipyards or car garages. Many households have reportedly left their designated barracks because they have been unable to <a href="https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/Khulna-Ashrayan-projects-turn-uninhabitable">find work</a>. </p>
<p>Most illnesses <a href="https://healtheconomicsreview.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13561-021-00348-6">go untreated</a> simply because the health financing system in the country is underfunded and relies heavily on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4645756/#:%7E:text=It%20is%20observed%20that%20a,purchasing%20health%20care%20(3).">cash</a> payments. Those who cannot afford to pay thus have little access to healthcare.
Moreover, when situated at a remote location, residents lose access to the socio-cultural networks that are key to rebuilding communities.</p>
<p>Administrative bureaucracy is also taking a toll. The process for acquiring a piece of land under the Ashrayan programme and obtaining proof of land ownership is fraught. Relocated families are supposed to be handed the registered deed on the spot. In practice, however, the actual delivery of the relevant certificates and title deeds is taking years.</p>
<p>Barracks are built at speed, and local municipalities, beset with competing priorities, are struggling to keep up. This is evident in the recurring <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/views/editorial/news/little-bit-accountability-can-go-long-way-2932316">cost and time overruns</a>. Many of the projects are coming in way over budget and are taking longer than predicted.</p>
<p><a href="https://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/groups_committees/loss_and_damage_executive_committee/application/pdf/ds-report-finding-land-solutions-to-climate-displacement.pdf">Successful resettlements</a> across the world have always been more than a reconstruction of what was materially lost. They are about helping communities to rebuild their social fabric on every level: infrastructural, economic and cultural.</p>
<p>When, by contrast, local autonomy, expertise and aspirations are excluded from the planning process and when existing patterns of inequality are not taken into consideration, the foundation on which the resettlement project is built is shaky. It risks further <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apv.12230">amplifying the vulnerabilities</a> people face. </p>
<p>Bangladesh should be lauded for undertaking the world’s largest resettlement programme. However, without following a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17565529.2017.1291401#:%7E:text=The%20review%20extracts%20successful%20resettlement,%2C%20Compensation%2C%20and%20Livelihood%20Protection.">systematic approach</a> that combines resilient infrastructure with governmental investment in human and social capital, its citizens will continue to be at the mercy of shifting lands and weather patterns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Atmaja Gohain Baruah receives funding from The National University of Singapore as a PhD scholar. </span></em></p>By 2050, 13.3 million people in Bangladesh could be displaced by the climate crisis. For them to be safe, the government needs to do more than build buildings.Atmaja Gohain Baruah, Joint PhD Researcher at the National University of Singapore and KCL, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2082622023-07-14T14:51:26Z2023-07-14T14:51:26ZCity liveability rankings tell a biased story – our research in Dhaka explains why<p>Like many fast-growing megacities in Asia and Africa, Dhaka, in Bangladesh, is often stigmatised as one of the most unliveable cities on earth, due to overcrowding, slums and substandard housing. The Bangladeshi capital boasts around <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/dhaka-population">23 million</a> residents. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/global-liveability-index-2023/">2023 edition</a> of its annual global liveability index, the Economist Intelligence Unit (the research and analysis division of the Economist Group) ranked the Bangladeshi capital 166 out of 173 cities. As Helemul Alam of the Daily Star put it, that ranking makes it the <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/liveability-index-dhaka-seventh-least-liveable-city-world-3055296">“seventh least liveable city in the world”</a>. While such lists tell a compelling story, it is an inherently biased one. </p>
<p>The Economist’s global liveability index is based on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-most-liveable-city-title-isnt-a-measure-of-the-things-most-of-us-actually-care-about-101525">experiences of expats</a> rather than citizens. This kind of ranking inevitably privileges the perspectives of certain urban occupants and workers over others, often overlooking communities <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-most-liveable-city-title-isnt-a-measure-of-the-things-most-of-us-actually-care-about-101525">in urban peripheries</a>. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02637758231168869">shown</a> that people move back and forth between urban and rural places. They shift between jobs, localities and accommodations. </p>
<h2>Translocal lives</h2>
<p>Our research was based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork that we both conducted between 2015 and 2018. We were examining two kinds of spaces linked to seasonal and labour migration: rickshaw garages and mess dormitories. These are typically located on the margins of the city in neighbourhoods such as Mirpur, Rayerbazar, Kamrangirchar, Shonir Akhra and Badda. We interviewed more than 100 people passing through these spaces in search for work and income, from rickshaw drivers, construction workers and garment workers to small-scale entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>We found that both mess dormitories and rickshaw garages are brimming with movement and business. They accommodate varying numbers of workers throughout the year, depending on the seasons. They blur functions of sleeping, working and entrepreneurship. </p>
<p>In a 2019 paper for the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, Khandoker Abdus Salam and Rezaul Karim <a href="https://www.bilsbd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/A-Study-of-Rickshaw-Pullers-in-Dhaka-City.pdf">estimated</a> that there are 1.1 million cycle-rickshaws operating on the streets of Dhaka, accommodated in garages across the city. </p>
<p>Rickshaw garages vary significantly, from cramped tin shed storage spaces with a handful of rickshaws to large half-open structures of bamboo and corrugated iron. Some simply consist of an open field with anything from a handful of rickshaws to 200 vehicles. </p>
<p>Rickshaw drivers are almost exclusively men. They rent vehicles by the day. Most do not have a permanent home in the city. Instead, they use the provisional, rent-free accommodation the garages provide. </p>
<p>In their study, Salam and Karim found that only 45% of rickshaw pullers rent a room in the city with their family. Over 80% spend at least a week at their rural home every six months. </p>
<p>One driver we interviewed, Jalal, usually runs a fish farm on the coast and had turned to the rickshaw industry to supplement his earnings: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I do not drive a rickshaw permanently. I only came to Dhaka for four months. I lost my fish stock this rainy season due to heavy flooding.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Every night, Jalal slept on a bamboo platform above the garage in Dhaka along with about 25 other people. He hoped to be able to move back to his home and business in the countryside after the rainy season had ended.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A cycle-rickshaw driver on a Dhaka street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537296/original/file-20230713-29-vhravo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drivers operate an estimated 1.1 million cycle-rickshaws in Dhaka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/MFABGE_IUH8">Alexis Rodriguez/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Multidirectional migration</h2>
<p>Mess dormitories host a much broader segment of the rural–urban migrant population. The men, women and families housed there work across numerous industries: domestic help, construction, garment factories, rickshaw and car garages, small-scale businesses, street food stalls and local restaurants. </p>
<p>Some dormitories are horizontal two-storey buildings. Others are built vertically, rising to four or five storeys. While typically made of permanent materials, these dormitories can seem unfurnished, as the most common living arrangement within them is on the floor. No beds were provided in the dormitories for men that we visited.</p>
<p>Makeshift walls of cardboard sometimes create separate sleeping quarters for women. Since moving to Dhaka, ten years ago, Ishrat, a 38-year-old home-based embroidery worker and a widowed mother of three, has moved eight times, in search of cheap rent and the ability to work from home so she can look after her children. As she explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every morning I rearrange this room with only one bed into a workshop. I teach embroidery work to women in the neighbourhood and do not mind sleeping on the floor as long as the room had sufficient electricity to continue my work after dark.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Dormitories offer flexible rental arrangements, from one-day or weekly rentals to monthly and year-long options. This allows people to move frequently.</p>
<h2>Cities as places of work</h2>
<p>Urbanisation in south Asia is often described in the media <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/21/people-pouring-dhaka-bursting-sewers-overpopulation-bangladesh">in dystopian terms</a>. Cities are said to be overburdened by the pressure of migrants from rural areas, who have no other option than to settle in slums. </p>
<p>Two wrong assumptions underpin this kind of narrative. First, that the city is a bounded and self-contained unit that can somehow overflow. Second, that rural-urban migration is a one-way process, leading to permanent settlement.</p>
<p>Demographers have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/New-Forms-of-Urbanization-Beyond-the-Urban-Rural-Dichotomy/Champion-Hugo/p/book/9781138254831#:%7E:text=This%20book%20brings%20together%20a,ways%20of%20representing%20current%20trends.">long shown</a>, however, that the divide between city and countryside is increasingly blurred. </p>
<p>A primary driver of Dhaka’s rapid urban growth is rural-urban migration triggered by land loss, unemployment and <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i1255b/i1255b03.pdf">river bank erosion</a>. But this kind of move doesn’t happen in a linear fashion, nor is it necessarily permanent. As development studies expert Rita Afsar <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d16e5274a31e0001632/WP-CP2.pdf">highlights</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Migration involves a spectrum of movement, from commuting or temporary, absence from the home for a couple of days at a time to seasonal or permanent relocation.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people on a rickshaw in the countryside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537300/original/file-20230713-15-flfrsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Translocal livelihoods see people migrate back and forth between the city and the countryside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/t0iKsO-RsYQ">Hasib Matiur/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dhaka is not merely a space of arrival or of residence. It is shaped by what the geographer Benjamin Etzold terms <a href="https://www.transient-spaces.org/blog/migrants-turn-cities-at-the-crossroads-into-transient-urban-spaces/">“translocality”</a>: people organising their lives and their livelihoods across different places. Doing so, as Ishrat and Jalal’s stories highlight, requires a monumental effort. </p>
<p>Cities need to be discussed not only in terms of their liveability but also in terms of their workability. What makes a city workable to people like Ishrat and Jalal is access to informal labour markets, cheap travel options, flexible housing and rental arrangements. It is also the possibility of maintaining translocal networks and livelihoods – of continuing to live between places.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shreyashi Dasgupta received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council ESRC – Cambridge Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant ES/W006391/1.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research conducted by Annemiek Prins was completed with the support of a grant from the Rosanna Fund for Women, as well as an Elphinstone Scholarship from the University of Aberdeen.</span></em></p>What makes a city workable to many people is access to informal labour markets, cheap travel options, flexible housing and rental arrangements.Shreyashi Dasgupta, Lecturer in Critical Social & Political Geography, University of LiverpoolAnnemiek Prins, Postdoctoral researcher and lecturer, Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, Radboud UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047222023-06-14T12:34:23Z2023-06-14T12:34:23ZRefugees are living longer in exile than ever before, with complex consequences for them and their host communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531008/original/file-20230608-14786-dlan6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rohingya girls share a laugh in Kutupalong, the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1024026662/photo/rohingya-refugees-mark-one-year-since-the-crisis.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=5nx1vrDQTLqscJJfQ2i3H68piCF9lDmYeRwvTea1atg=">Paula Bronstein/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of people forced from their homes, primarily because of conflict or climate change, is on the rise, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/insights/explainers/100-million-forcibly-displaced.html">topping 100 million people</a> in 2022 – <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unhcr-global-trends-2012-displacement-new-21st-century-challenge">more than double the number</a> of displaced people in 2012. </p>
<p>About a third of those <a href="https://help.unhcr.org/faq/how-can-we-help-you/asylum-and-refugee-status/">100 million people are refugees</a>. Refugees live in a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45054745">legal limbo</a> that can increasingly <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/media/protracted-refugee-situations">stretch for decades</a>. And the number of people remaining refugees for five years or longer <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8999f6e3-bc56-42ac-9dd9-32a747243d08/content">more than doubled over the past decade</a>, topping 16 million in 2022. These are people who do not have a clear path to residency in any country but are unable to return to their homes because they are unsafe.</p>
<p>Typically, because of domestic political pressure and other issues, the countries hosting refugees do not want to offer them permanent residency.</p>
<p>I have spent years interviewing Rohingya people – members of an ethnic minority who have lived in Myanmar for centuries but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/29/the-battle-over-the-word-rohingya/">without actual citizenship</a> – in refugee camps in Bangladesh. These talks show the real-life effects of people remaining refugees for years. </p>
<p>“We escaped our home and belonging to save our lives from bullets. Now, we are hanging in uncertainties – no right to attain higher education, no permission to work, no claim over property. Yet no path to return,” Jafar, a 27-year-old Rohingya refugee, told me during my fieldwork in the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/countries/bangladesh">Kutupalong refugee camp</a> in Bangladesh in July 2022.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cw1ds5IAAAAJ&hl=en">Bangladeshi scholar who researches refugees’ everyday lives</a>. I have closely followed the trajectory of Kutupalong, which grew to become the <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-visited-the-rohingya-refugee-camps-and-here-is-what-bangladesh-is-doing-right-90513">largest refugee camp in the world</a> in 2017.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102568">research shows that</a> host countries’ interests in protecting the rights and services of their own citizens keeps refugees from being fully integrated into society or obtaining citizenship.</p>
<p>In the absence of legal protection outside their home countries, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24694452.2021.2023001?journalCode=raag21">refugees’ livelihoods</a> and <a href="https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10315/8011/Milner-Responding-Brief.pdf;sequence=1">well-being</a> often remain in jeopardy, an effect that can span generations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk in single file against a dark blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531009/original/file-20230608-21-ut6dg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of Rohingya refugees walk along a rice field after crossing into Bangladesh in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/859402922/photo/rohingya-refugees-flood-into-bangladesh.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=uIiWCvtJY1PXB1Z6VgmxRO53eC9U1TCKz2Psd7gp5wI=">Paula Bronstein/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why people are remaining refugees for longer</h2>
<p>People can <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees">get refugee status</a> when a government or international organization such as the U.N. finds that they have a legitimate fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group in their home country.</p>
<p>Refugees are <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/">legally protected under international law from deportation</a> but often do not have safe places to live or the opportunity to legally work in their host countries. Most refugees live outside of formal camps, in <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/how-refugees-decision-live-or-outside-camp-affects-their-quality-life">informal settlements in cities</a>.</p>
<p>Only <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">204,500 of the world’s 32 million refugees</a> were able to return home or get resettled permanently in 2022. </p>
<p>Generally, people are remaining refugees for longer periods for three reasons.</p>
<p>First, conflicts in places <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ethiopia">ranging from Ethiopia</a> to Syria are lasting longer than conflicts have historically, dragging on for more than a decade in some cases. </p>
<p>Second, there generally aren’t cohesive international, regional or national strategies to handle large numbers of refugees. Low- or middle-income <a href="https://us.boell.org/en/2022/08/17/immigration-politics-refugees-turkey-and-2023-elections">countries like Turkey that do not guarantee</a> a path to citizenship host <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/media/40152">more than two-thirds of the world’s refugees</a>.</p>
<p>And third, some wealthier countries are developing restrictive policies that make it harder for refugees to cross their borders. They are also taking actions that make it harder for refugees to ever cross their borders – including <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/border-wall-system">building more border walls</a>, <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/">detaining refugees</a> in offshore islands and <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520287976/boats-borders-and-bases">intercepting refugee</a> boats.</p>
<p>One general exception to this trend is the protection granted by European Union countries to <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/ukraine-refugees-eu/">4 million Ukrainian refugees</a> fleeing the war, including giving them the legal right to work, for several years. </p>
<h2>Increasing years in exile</h2>
<p>The Rohingya situation demonstrates the civic and physical dangers of long-term legal refugee limbo.</p>
<p>In 2017, Mynamar’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-ethnic-cleansing.html">military launched widespread violent attacks</a> against the Rohingya people that the United Nations <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/08/un-expert-calls-action-against-myanmar-military-anniversary-atrocities">considers genocide</a>. </p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/rohingya-refugee-crisis/#:%7E:text=Emergencies,-ROHINGYA%20REFUGEE%20CRISIS&text=More%20than%20742%2C000%20Rohingya%20were,Myanmar's%20Rakhine%20State%20in%202017.&text=of%20Rohingya%20refugees%20and%20asylum,children%3B%2025%20percent%20are%20women">Rohingya people fled</a> across the border to Bangladesh. Now, about <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/bgd">930,292 Rohingya refugees</a> live in a sprawling refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar in the southern part of Bangladesh. </p>
<p>Negotiations over repatriating Rohingya people to Myanmar <a href="https://www.state.gov/marking-two-years-since-the-military-coup-in-burma/">stalled in 2021</a> following a military coup in Myanmar.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-the-persecution-of-myanmars-rohingya-84040">the Rohingya situation</a> in Bangladesh is not unique.</p>
<p><a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/29455">Syrian refugees in Turkey</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-refugees-protests-trfn/missing-from-indias-citizenship-law-100000-sri-lankan-refugees-idUSKBN1YS0VA">Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India</a>, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/us/countries/afghanistan">Afghan refugees in Pakistan</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdr013">Somali refugees in Kenya</a> are among the large groups of refugees who fled conflict and have lived for decades in another place without the protections of citizenship.</p>
<h2>When refugees are stuck</h2>
<p>During my fieldwork in Cox’s Bazar in August 2022, I met with a 65-year-old refugee named Kolim who lost both his legs in a shooting by the Myanmar army. He said that the local nonprofit organization that had supported him with a disability allowance for five years just ended its project, because the organization could not secure funding for the next year.</p>
<p>This follows an <a href="https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2022/volumes-of-humanitarian-and-wider-crisis-financing/">overall trend</a> of major international humanitarian organizations and smaller nonprofits alike tending to give the most money following an emergency response or crisis.</p>
<p>Similarly, international funding for long-term conflicts and continuing humanitarian crises that last years <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/global-humanitarian-need-worse-than-un-estimates-report-suggests-103606">tend to see drops</a> in funding and help over time.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, only about <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/education">half of refugee children are in school</a>.</p>
<p>Refugees – who are <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2022/7/27/new-study-refugees-restricted-from-working-in-at-least-32-countries-limiting-their-ability-to-support-themselves-and-contribute-to-host-country">typically unable to legally work</a> in their host countries – also tend to undertake informal kinds of employment, working as day laborers in construction, for example, or as street vendors.</p>
<p>Refugees in dire situations also often engage in work without permission and risk <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2018.1465046">being arrested</a> by the police. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.2023001">Some of my research</a> shows that competition to find work also generates tension between the host and the refugee communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Shanty houses are seen against a blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530311/original/file-20230606-17-shmj8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Daily life for Myanmar refugees plays out in Cox’s Bazaar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sharif Wahab</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Initiatives that help</h2>
<p>There have been some recent efforts at the international level to address the challenges facing refugees and host countries alike.</p>
<p>In 2018, countries in the U.N. agreed to an informal plan to jointly share the responsibility to host <a href="https://globalcompactrefugees.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/New%20York%20Declaration%20for%20Refugees%20and%20Migrants.pdf">refugees and migrants</a>.</p>
<p>These countries committed to a framework for <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/comprehensive-refugee-response-framework">shared responsibilities</a> in their response to refugee crises.</p>
<p>But nonprofit groups that work with refugees have said it is unclear whether the plan has <a href="https://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/document/6324/ircdrcnrcjointreportv4final.pdf">resulted in any change</a>, noting that few countries have implemented the strategy into their domestic planning.</p>
<p>Without any systematic solutions to deal with migration and refugees, refugees continue to forge ahead without a clear direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharif A Wahab 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.</span></em></p>As conflicts last longer, the number of refugees and other displaced people is on the rise.Sharif A Wahab, PhD Candidate, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044812023-04-27T13:15:58Z2023-04-27T13:15:58Z10 years after the Rana Plaza collapse, fashion has yet to slow down<p>This week marks at once the <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/frw-2023/">annual campaign of the Fashion Revolution</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-ten-years-after-the-bangladesh-factory-collapse-we-are-no-closer-to-fixing-modern-slavery-203774">10th anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building</a>. The event, which <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/bangladesh-disaster-ranaplaza/feature-a-decade-after-rana-plaza-bangladesh-garment-workers-fight-on-idINL8N36O4IR">killed over 1,100 garment workers and injured two thousand more</a>, sparked a global debate at the time about the true cost of the fast fashion industry. Everyday brands such as Benetton, Mango, Zara, Walmart, and C&A <a href="https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Rana-plaza-ten-years-later-has-the-fashion-industry-learned-its-lesson-,1506162.html">were revealed</a> to have resorted to factories inside of the faulty eight-story building, setting many on a racetrack to reclaim their ethical and environmental credentials since. </p>
<h2>The fashion industry, ten years on from the disaster</h2>
<p>But ten years on, has anything changed? There is widespread agreement to the contrary. In fact, it would appear the pace in the fashion industry has accelerated. This is evident from the rise of ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein, which carries the fast paced logic of the field to extremes by adding <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/fast-cheap-out-of-control-inside-rise-of-shein/">several thousand new items per day</a>. In this regard, no one can deny it is important we have a public conversation about the toll fast fashion is taking on people and the environment. However, too often that conversation ends with individual responsibility and customers’ “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/rana-plaza-garment-worker-rights-accord/index.html">hunger for cheap clothing</a>.” The chorus is now a familiar one, as civil society calls on consumers to stop buying fast fashion and those who still do struggle with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/fashion/fast-fashion-sustainable-clothing.html">feelings of guilt</a>. As marketing scholars specialised in <a href="https://em-lyon.com/en/verena-gruber/research">sustainable consumption</a> and <a href="https://www.hec.ca/en/profs/marie-agnes.parmentier.html">fashion</a>, we argue that it is misguided to focus on consumer responsibility to solve systemic issues that seem <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/06/patagonia-labor-clothing-factory-exploitation/394658/">too large even for companies to address</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, studies show focusing on consumers as scapegoats further <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322001928?casa_token=UFWlu3zOpjsAAAAA:g67306857pcmSwTKbDK3vMqCeUF1di8s_Z6-rErJH4HebWpGCn3ZLPxaFvfYQyw1vgU9OnNH">reinforces power imbalances</a> that exist in the industry, as the focus distracts from the financial and technical resources that powerful corporations possess. Rather than empowering consumers to solve the problem, the approach often leaves them feeling <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-3795-4">demoralized</a>, in prey to shame and and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucac037/6663865?redirectedFrom=fulltext">confusion</a> over the multitude of choices spread before their eyes. Started in early 2022, our ongoing research on slow fashion shows that there is a more beneficial way to move away from fast fashion. </p>
<h2>A closer look at consumers’ perspective</h2>
<p>Everyone needs clothes, but for consumers the choice of clothing has become a moral minefield. Consumers are held responsible for issues that they are not the architect of. Rather, we argue they are the victims of a system that glorifies outfit variety and makes exposure to fast fashion items unavoidable. Aggressive social media advertising keeps consumers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/18/ultra-fast-fashion-retail-sites-shein">addicted</a> and influencer-generated content of <a href="https://greenisthenewblack.com/shein-ultra-fast-fashion-consumerism-tiktok-influencer/">#sheinhauls</a> further normalizes enormous volumes of disposable fashion. </p>
<p>Even when consumers try to step out of this treadmill, they often struggle to orientate themselves toward ethical options. The power relations in the fashion industry go in hand with an information asymmetry and consumers often have no possibility to know how and by whom their <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611479/unraveled-by-maxine-bedat/">clothes are made</a>. Initiatives such as the <a href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/">Fashion Transparency Index</a>, which ranks fashion brands and retailers according to the information they disclose on their supply chain operations, are laudable but even when possessing all necessary information, consumers are still constrained by parameters outside their control, not least economic ones. </p>
<p>Indeed, fast fashion is often the only clothing affordable especially to younger consumers for whom <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/169800-why-freedom-to-experiment-with-fashion-as-a-teenager-is-so-important">expressing themselves with fashion</a> is an important part of their personal development. Rising inflation has made the financial accessibility of fast fashion clothes even more attractive. According to recent studies by customer research company Untold Insights, the majority of Generation Z and Millennials are <a href="https://hypebae.com/2023/4/gen-z-millennials-sustainable-fashion-cost-of-living-crisis-study-findings-details">unable to shop sustainably</a> as a result of the rising cost of living. Sustainable fashion is simply <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/teen-walrus-fast-fashion/">out of reach</a>. Even among those individuals privileged enough to afford fair fashion, turning to cheap clothes is perpetuated by psychological mechanisms, such as our ability to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1509/jmkr.2005.42.3.266">purposefully ignore</a> ethical product aspects to prevent potential negative feelings or to retrospectively <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-know-sweatshop-clothing-is-bad-and-buy-it-anyway-heres-how-your-brain-makes-excuses-192944">find arguments</a> that justify our decision. Last, social considerations such as the acceptability of <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/confessions-of-an-outfit-repeater-rules-tiffany-haddish-kate-middleton">outfit repeating</a> and the <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/11/11190896/plus-size-vintage-resale-shops">difficulty to find size-inclusive preloved clothing</a> have pushed some consumers to turn to fast fashion. </p>
<p>If the only accessible option is fast fashion, the problem at the base is the productive model and not the person who looks for a practical solution. So, what are the potential pathways left for consumers who care?</p>
<h2>Slow fashion tips from experts</h2>
<p>Rather than asking consumers to shop more ethically and guilt-tripping them over certain brands, our research shows slow fashion practices offer us the best chance to reboot our relationship with clothes. Our aim is to better understand how slow fashion practices empower individuals and help them gain a sense of control by decelerating the pace of their fashion consumption. To explore this, we are currently following 14 slow fashion consumers and observing their practices, from carefully picking fabrics and threads to patch their clothes to patiently rummaging clothing racks at thrift stores. </p>
<p>Slow fashion is about <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02761467221116294">mindfulness and attentiveness</a> and can help consumers “get out of the frenzy in which [they] are in,” as one of our interviewees puts it. To get started, consumers should turn to their wardrobes and look at what they already have. Then, they can explore practices that are ready-to-hand: If you wear mainstream sizes, organize a clothing swap party with friends or join one of the events organized via platforms such as <a href="https://www.meetup.com/topics/clothesswap/">Meetup</a>. </p>
<p>Clara, one of our interviewees, consider them a “fantastic way to satiate your appetite for something new.” Don’t hesitate to bring the fast fashion pieces that might be banned from resale sites such as <a href="https://www.vestiairecollective.com/journal/our-fight-against-fast-fashion/">Vestiaire Collective</a>. The longer clothes are kept in circulation, the better. If the clothes needs touching up, and you have the time to do so, repair them with guidance from online tutorials such as <a href="https://fixing.fashion/">#fixingfashion</a> or in one of the local workshops that have popped up across Europe. </p>
<p>Fancy making a statement? <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/may/17/patch-me-if-you-can-how-to-mend-clothes-creatively">Visible mending</a> is a trend that allows to show your creativity while extending your clothes’ lives. Our research shows that the manual activity and process of craft allows consumers to regain a sense of control and empowerment in a system Lara, one of the slow fashion practitioners we spoke to, describes as “suffocating”. This week represents a great opportunity to explore slow fashion practices and do something for individual, collective, and planetary well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Ten years after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, scholars find slow fashion practices hold the keys to a more sustainable, joyful relationship with clothes.Verena Gruber, Associate Professor of Marketing, EM Lyon Business SchoolMarie-Agnes Parmentier, Professor of Marketing, HEC MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015382023-04-22T16:20:10Z2023-04-22T16:20:10ZFast fashion still comes with deadly risks, 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster – the industry’s many moving pieces make it easy to cut corners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522252/original/file-20230421-26-yyte0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1019%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists in Dhaka demand safe working conditions in 2019, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/industry-all-bangladesh-council-activists-protest-to-news-photo/1139075620?adppopup=true">Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22476774">killing more than 1,000 workers</a> and injuring another 2,500. It remains the worst accident in the history of the apparel industry and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the world.</p>
<p>Several factories inside the complex <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/26/these-retailers-involved-in-bangladesh-factory-disaster-have-yet-to-compensate-victims/?sh=3444108c211b">produced apparel for Western brands</a>, including Benetton, Primark and Walmart, shining a spotlight on the unsafe conditions in which a sizable portion of Americans’ cheap clothing is produced. The humanitarian tragedy hit home as wealthy nations’ shoppers wrestled with their own complicity and called for reforms – but a decade later, progress is still patchy.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ravi-anupindi">a professor of operations and supply chain management</a>, I believe it is important to understand how the complex and fragmented supply chains that are the norm in the clothing industry create conditions where unsafe conditions and abuse can flourish – and make it difficult to assign responsibility for reforms.</p>
<h2>Shamed into action?</h2>
<p>Rana Plaza was <a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/06/05/the-worst-industrial-disasters-in-bangladesh-since-2005">not the first garment industry accident in Bangladesh</a>. While the government had stringent building codes “on the books,” <a href="https://ces.ulab.edu.bd/sites/default/files/Building_Code_Analysis-hi.pdf">they were rarely enforced</a>. Most workers lacked the information and power to demand safe working conditions.</p>
<p>Yet the fact that the Rana Plaza collapse was not only a humanitarian crisis, but a public relations crisis, prompted swift action by international organizations and Western brands and clothing retailers. A campaign for <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">full and fair compensation</a> for families of victims was launched immediately, facilitated by <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm">the International Labor Organization</a>, a U.N. agency. Within a few months, two initiatives were designed to bring garment factories in Bangladesh up to international standards: the European-led <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord for Fire and Building Safety</a>, and the American-led <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Uniformed rescue workers stand on top of a slab on top of a collapsed cement building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rescue and recovery personnel on the site of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BangladeshBuildingCollapse/7f235631839d40e4ad3cbba1e0825166/photo?Query=(renditions.phototype:horizontal)%20AND%20%20(%22rana%20plaza%22)%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=297&currentItemNo=295">AP Photo/Wong Maye-E</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the two initiatives differed in some important ways, both shared the common goal: to improve building and fire safety by leveraging the purchasing power of the member companies. In other words, Western brands would insist that production partners get up to standard or take their business elsewhere.</p>
<p>Altogether, the two agreements covered about 2,300 supplier factories. The coalitions conducted factory inspections to identify structural and electrical deficiencies and developed plans for factories to make improvements. The initiatives also laid the groundwork to form worker safety committees <a href="https://iosh.com/news/bangladesh-project-success-story/">and to train workers</a> to recognize, solve and prevent health and safety issues. Member companies set aside funds for inspections and worker training, <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/issues/faq-safety-accord">negotiated commercial terms</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alliance-sets-plan-to-finance-bangladesh-factory-upgrades-1417791607">facilitated low-cost loans</a> for factory improvements.</p>
<p>Both were five-year agreements: the Alliance <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">was sunsetted in 2018</a>, whereas the Accord operated for a few more years before handing operations over to the locally created <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-rmg-sustainability-council-to-take-over-accord-operations-after-281-days/">Readymade Sustainability Council</a> in June 2020.</p>
<h2>The record since</h2>
<p>The onus and expense of making these improvements, however, were largely to be borne by the suppliers – a substantial financial burden for many factories, especially considering the low cost and slim profit margins of the clothes they were producing. </p>
<p>Under the Alliance and the Accord, thousands of factories were inspected for building and fire safety, identifying problems such as lack of fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems, improper fire exits, faulty wiring and structural issues. At the end of five years, both initiatives reported that <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">85%-88% of safety issues were remediated</a>. Around half of the factories completed more than 90% of initial remediation, while over 260 of the original 2,300 factories under the initiatives were suspended from contracting with member companies.</p>
<p>In addition, more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including injured workers and dependents of victims, were compensated <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">through the Rana Plaza Arrangement</a>, receiving an average of about US$6,500.</p>
<p>Overall, I believe that these initiatives have been successful in bringing safety issues to the forefront. In terms of infrastructure improvements, however, while there has been decent progress, much still needs to be done; for example, the initiatives covered just about <a href="https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Etwadhwa/bangladesh/downloads/beyond_the_tip_of_the_iceberg_report.pdf">one-third of all the garment factories in Bangladesh</a>. Importantly, neither addressed company sourcing practices.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a pink shawl stares at the camera, with a green field amid tall buildings behind her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family of Rana Plaza victims look at their relatives’ graves as they mark the disaster’s anniversary in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dhaka-bangladesh-april-24-2017-relatives-of-rana-plaza-news-photo/672595062?adppopup=true">Rehman Asad/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Clothes yesterday and today</h2>
<p>To understand why so much apparel manufacturing takes place in substandard conditions, we need to understand the underlying economic forces: extensive outsourcing to countries with low wages in the quest to meet demand for more – and cheaper – clothing to sell to customers in the West.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, the average American family <a href="https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/7939/madeinamerica">spent 10% of its income on clothing</a>, buying 25 pieces of apparel – almost all of it made in the United States. Fifty years later, around the time of the Rana Plaza disaster, the average household was spending only about 3.5% of its income on clothing – but buying three times as many items, 98% of which were imported.</p>
<p>Over these decades, low-income countries in Asia and Latin America started producing more garments and textiles. Apparel production is labor-intensive, meaning these countries’ lower wages were a huge attraction to brands and retailers, who gradually started shifting their sourcing.</p>
<p>On a $30 shirt, for example, a typical retailer markup is close to 60%. The factory makes a profit of $1.15, and the worker <a href="https://theconversation.com/years-after-the-rana-plaza-tragedy-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-bottom-of-the-pile-159224">makes barely 18 cents</a>. Were a similar shirt produced in the U.S., labor costs would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/asia/bangladesh-us-tshirt/index.html">be closer to $10</a>.</p>
<p>As labor costs rose in China, Bangladesh became <a href="https://qz.com/389741/the-thing-that-makes-bangladeshs-garment-industry-such-a-huge-success-also-makes-it-deadly">a very appealing alternative</a>. Garment exports now account for 82% of <a href="https://bgmea.com.bd/page/Export_Performance">the country’s export total</a>, and the industry <a href="https://www.bsr.org/en/blog/what-if-all-garment-workers-in-bangladesh-were-financially-included">employs 4 million people</a>, about 58% of whom are women. </p>
<p>The growth of this sector has <a href="https://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/482">reduced poverty</a> significantly and also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.01.006">empowered women</a>. To meet the rapid growth of the apparel industry, however, many buildings were converted to factories as quickly as possible, often without requisite permits. </p>
<h2>Everyone and no one</h2>
<p>A common way that foreign companies source products from low-cost countries like Bangladesh is through intermediaries or agents. For example, when a brand places a large order with an authorized factory, the factory in turn may <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">subcontract part of the production to smaller factories</a>, often without informing the brand.</p>
<p>This highly competitive environment, with people at each step of the process looking for the lowest price and no guarantee of longer-term relationships, gives suppliers incentives to cut corners – particularly when under extreme pressure to deliver on time. This can translate into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-worker-rights/bangladesh-urged-to-stop-worker-abuse-in-garment-industry-idUSKBN20W25O">exploitative labor practices</a> or unsafe conditions that violate local laws, but enforcement capacity is weak. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman cries, her face hidden in her brightly colored headscarf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nilufer Begum, an injured garment worker who survived the Rana Plaza disaster, during a 2018 interview with AFP in her small tea stall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photograph-taken-on-april-17-2018-nilufer-begum-an-news-photo/949797208?adppopup=true">Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In their constant quest for lower prices, buyers may turn a blind eye to these practices. The supply chain’s opaqueness, especially when brands do not source directly, makes it difficult to investigate and remediate these practices. Since the 1990s, international <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501727290-004/pdf">scrutiny of labor conditions</a> has grown, but reform efforts largely ignored building and fire safety, the prime reason for the Rana Plaza collapse. Because multiple buyers would often use the same factory, no single buyer felt obligated to invest in the supplier to ensure better conditions.</p>
<p>Garments traverse a complex global supply network by the time they reach stores thousands of miles away. Workers are caught in this web, exploited by factory management that is seldom held responsible by governments either <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/05/09/182637164/bangladeshs-powerful-garment-sector-fends-off-regulation">unwilling or unable to enforce laws</a>. Western brands escape the scrutiny of their governments by outsourcing production to low-cost countries and absolve themselves of direct responsibility. And consumers, eager for a bargain, shop for the lowest price. </p>
<p>This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ravi Anupindi is affiliated with Fair Labor Association. </span></em></p>Ten years after the collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the garment industry’s deadliest disaster, reforms are incomplete. The opaqueness of today’s complex supply chain is part of the problem.Ravi Anupindi, Professor of Technology and Operations, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2037742023-04-21T09:06:03Z2023-04-21T09:06:03ZRana Plaza: ten years after the Bangladesh factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery<p>It’s ten years since the tragic collapse of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rana-plaza-work-injury-compensation-still-missing-in-bangladeshs-labour-standards-107123">Rana Plaza building</a> near Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed at least 1,132 garment workers and injured several thousand more. The collapse of the eight-storey building on April 24 2013, which housed five factories making clothes for western high street brands like <a href="https://help.accessorize.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360027314892-Rana-Plaza">Accessorize</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/16/primark-payout-victims-rana-plaza-bangladesh">Primark</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/may/15/walmart-opts-out-bangladesh-rana-plaza">Walmart</a>, was the worst of its kind in the world. </p>
<p>The owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana, <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/bangladesh-factory-collapse-engineer-arrested-as-death-toll-passes-500-8602036.html">had allegedly been</a> told by an engineer the day before that the building was not safe and should be evacuated. Ten years on, the <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/hc-grants-rana-plaza-owner-bail-murder-case-3290596">murder trial</a> against him and another 35 defendants has still not been concluded. </p>
<p>The tragedy shed a light on the appalling conditions that sometimes exist in the global retail supply chain. Wealthy countries have unveiled lots of initiatives in the ensuing years to make things better. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved. So where are we going wrong?</p>
<h2>The response to Rana</h2>
<p>Immediately after the tragedy, various global initiatives <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/20/inspections-garment-factories-bangladesh-fashion-business-accord-alliance">were launched</a> to ensure the safety of garment workers in the country, such as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. These focused on things like increasing building fire and safety audits and inspections, with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/business/bangladesh-worker-safety-accord.html">some success</a> in factory safety for workers. </p>
<p>There have also been moves to curb exploitation and forced labour. <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_855019/lang--en/index.htm#:%7E:text=Modern%20slavery%2C%20as%20defined%20for,deception%2C%20or%20abuse%20of%20power">Forced labour</a>, which is often referred to as <a href="https://theconversation.com/fashion-production-is-modern-slavery-5-things-you-can-do-to-help-now-115889">modern slavery</a>, includes situations where workers are not in a position to give informed consent to their conditions, and where they will be penalised if they refuse. Without getting into the fine detail of exactly where this applies, it arguably includes Rana Plaza. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rack of jeans in a shop window" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522047/original/file-20230420-14-w1lav6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Retailers now have to disclose how they are tackling modern slavery in their supply chains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/display-window-vintage-shop-brick-lane-1609399642">I Wei Wang</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many wealthier jurisdictions including <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted">the UK</a>, <a href="https://respect.international/french-corporate-duty-of-vigilance-law-english-translation/#:%7E:text=In%202017%20the%20French%20Parliament,publish%20annual%2C%20public%20vigilance%20plans.">France</a>, <a href="https://www.csr-in-deutschland.de/EN/Business-Human-Rights/Supply-Chain-Act/supply-chain-act.html">Germany</a>, <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0071">the EU</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153">Australia</a> have enacted legislation to tackle forced labour. This requires companies within those countries to produce things like annual modern slavery statements or due diligence reports to show they are managing their supply chains properly and ensuring workers are treated fairly. </p>
<p>Much of this legislation is disappointing. The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10551-021-04878-1.pdf">only applies</a> to companies with upwards of £36 million annual turnover. Companies have to disclose what steps they are taking to deal with slavery risks in their supply chains, but don’t have to specify which abuses have taken place. There is also no penalty for failing to make the necessary disclosures. </p>
<p>On the other hand, <a href="https://www.csr-in-deutschland.de/EN/Business-Human-Rights/Supply-Chain-Act/supply-chain-act.html">Germany has made it mandatory</a> for companies to enforce standards within their supply chains to make sure their suppliers are ethical employers and providing safe working conditions, as opposed to the UK approach of simply requiring a disclosure. Germany also imposes fines of up to €8 million (£7 million) or 2% of annual turnover, whichever is higher. It only applies to companies with turnover in excess of €400 million, however. There <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0071">are also proposals</a> for a mandatory due diligence directive across the EU, though it’s not yet clear whether this will go ahead. </p>
<h2>Our findings</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1045235420300162?via%3Dihub">Numerous</a> studies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00014788.2017.1362330?journalCode=rabr20">have shown</a> that – despite all the social audits, ethical codes, corporate social responsibility disclosures and moral narratives global fashion retailers use – workers’ human rights have not improved. Indeed, the situation was aggravated by COVID 19. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernslaverypec.org%2Flatest%2Fcovid-women-garment-bangladesh&data=05%7C01%7Cazizul.islam%40abdn.ac.uk%7C63d2249f77114b58b29508db1bcaf710%7C8c2b19ad5f9c49d490773ec3cfc52b3f%7C0%7C0%7C638134332717286053%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UNJ9DqLyehWXzfKwc6%2BbFE22bMwVa0NUlw2qI%2BYMWqc%3D&reserved=0">some colleagues and I</a> interviewed Bangladeshi garment workers and people in trade unions and NGOs, we found that the pandemic had led to job losses and increased people’s financial burdens. This made it harder for women workers to support themselves and their families. </p>
<p><a href="https://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2164/19814/Impact_of_Global_Clothing_Retailers_Unfair_Practices_on_Bangladeshi_Suppliers_During_COVID_19_VOR.pdf;jsessionid=5CB5116D1658EEDD382FE1670279703D?sequence=1">In December 2021</a> we then surveyed 1,000 garment factories and found that more than half during the pandemic had endured retailers suddenly cancelling orders, delaying payments, reducing what they were willing to pay or refusing to pay for completed goods. Retailers on the list included (but were not limited to) Aldi, Asda, Asos, Bestseller, Costco, H&M, Kik, Lidl, New Look, Nike, Next, Pep&Co, Primark and Zara. </p>
<p>Yet no suppliers took customers to court for cancellations or refusing to pay for goods. Three-quarters of factories were still selling to brands at the same prices as in March 2020. Nearly one in five factories also struggled to pay the Bangladeshi minimum wage.</p>
<h2>The situation today</h2>
<p>Since the pandemic, suppliers <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernslaverypec.org%2Flatest%2Fcost-of-living-vulnerable-modern-slavery&data=05%7C01%7Cazizul.islam%40abdn.ac.uk%7C63d2249f77114b58b29508db1bcaf710%7C8c2b19ad5f9c49d490773ec3cfc52b3f%7C0%7C0%7C638134332717286053%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cDrMPp5cgtWV48O66R1AnfJSmRwxFzc5FYX1s%2Fq11ps%3D&reserved=0">continue to struggle</a> amid high inflation. <a href="https://www.just-style.com/news/bangladesh-unions-demand-wage-board-and-increase-for-garment-workers/">In Bangladesh</a>, unions are demanding that the legal minimum wage for garment workers be almost tripled, but so far with no success. Garment exports <a href="https://pciaw.org/ready-made-garment-bangladesh-increase/">have increased</a> more than 35% since the start of the pandemic yet wages and employee numbers have stayed the same. </p>
<p>The collapse of British online retailer Misguided in 2022 gave more insight into the unfairness of the supply chain when it was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/12/missguided-collapse-pakistani-garment-workers-left-destitute-and-starving">revealed that</a> clothing producers in Pakistan were shipping consignments and not getting paid until later. When Misguided went under, this meant not getting paid at all, leading to hundreds of workers being made redundant. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/global-modern-slavery-trafficking/">International Labour Organization-led</a> estimates suggest that the number of people in forced labour around the world rose from 24.9 million to 27.6 million between 2016 and 2021. Many workers in poor conditions in the retail supply chain would not be categorised as forced labour, but this rise is certainly not encouraging. Overall, these are various signs during and since the pandemic that suggest the modern slavery legislation is not having the desired effect. </p>
<p>So what can be done? Instead of more transparency regulations, we need <a href="https://www.transform-trade.org/fashion-watchdog">a watchdog</a> to investigate unfair practices around the world and punish companies that are found guilty. As well as investigating forced labour allegations, it would penalise companies for doing cut-price deals that prevent workers from receiving a living wage. It would also prevent companies from delaying payments for long periods or refusing to pay for completed goods. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-07-13/debates/86436DD6-DABD-401C-B150-7F8B8533A05B/FashionSupplyChain(CodeAndAdjudicator)">bill was tabled</a> in the UK parliament to establish such an adjudicator last July. It has been <a href="https://www.transform-trade.org/fashion-watchdog">publicly supported</a> by more than 50 MPs and is expected to be put back before the House of Commons in the near future. For the longer term, to harmonise practices between different countries, it would also make sense to establish an international fashion watchdog. </p>
<p>It is unavoidable that COVID and high inflation have adversely affected supply chain workers, and no one is denying that exploitation by suppliers is part of the problem. But an international watchdog that puts more pressure on retailers to treat their supply chains fairly is an essential part of the puzzle. Until a regime is in place with genuine teeth to ensure retailers toe the line, the modern slavery behind high-street fashions will only continue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Muhammad Azizul Islam receives funding from UKRI/AHRC, GCRF- Scottish Funding Council, University of Aberdeen, The UK Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre. He is affiliated with the University of Aberdeen Business School. He is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia. Professor Islam is a Civil Society Representative, Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), The UK Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI UK). He is also an advisory member of GRI’s (Global Reporting Initiative) standard-setting committee on human rights and labour disclosure standards. The article is partly based on work done in collaboration with Transform Trade, UK. </span></em></p>At least 1,132 workers died when the Rana building collapsed in Bangladesh, while several thousand more were injured.Muhammad Azizul Islam, Chair in Accountancy and Professor in Sustainability Accounting and Transparency, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2035462023-04-20T20:02:18Z2023-04-20T20:02:18ZFriday essay: ‘I trained to be an engineer … now I am a pickle seller’. What does migration do to a wife?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521189/original/file-20230417-28-bplmkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C569%2C3430%2C1728&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>But you know what’s funny? All my life, I have been trained to be an engineer. Look at me now, I am a pickle seller! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She laughed with teary eyes. I did not laugh. I felt like crying and giving her a tight hug. Yet I did not move. I kept listening. I am a researcher. I am supposed to just collect data. I am not supposed to respond emotionally. </p>
<p>By the way, how does one collect data when the “subjects” are human? When the information one is looking for has turned into personal stories? Like this story of Selina (a pseudonym), born in a riverside town near Dhaka – the capital of Bangladesh. Selina’s husband was already planning to apply for an Australian offshore visa when they married and in 2010, when she was 27, the couple migrated to Sydney. </p>
<p>On the occasion of her birth, Selina’s grandmother had held her closely to her chest, telling her mother, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Beti (dear daughter), in our family, girls are strong. Make her strong. I may not live long to see her grow, but promise me, you’ll make her strong. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her mother kept the promise. She made Selina an engineer.</p>
<p>To my Australian readers, a girl being an engineer may not mean much. Only my Bangladeshi readers will know a girl being an engineer means her parents were constantly bombarded with well-wishers’ remarks: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why are you wasting your money on making your girl an engineer? What’s in it for you? She will be married to someone and go off to her in-laws! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She was made the centre of jokes by her friends:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hey, here comes our engineer! Once married, her engineering skills will make her cooking more delicious! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She was ridiculed by her teachers whenever she stumbled on something difficult that she couldn’t understand at one go: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why are you wasting your time in this engineering class? Better you do cooking classes in the kitchen! </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520496/original/file-20230412-16-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A civil engineer at work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A Bangladeshi girl, an engineer: it means she and her parents fought all the way for her to complete the degree and enter the profession. </p>
<p>So, when she said, “look at me now”, I literally looked at her. Looked at her teary eyes. Looked at her clean, tidy, beautifully organised house. Looked at her cooking and talking to me simultaneously – her kids would be back from school soon – having just moved the pickle jars from the shade to the sunny places on the kitchen veranda, so a carpenter could fix the broken deck in the backyard. </p>
<p>There was a time when Selina was busy with her daily hectic routine as a civil engineer working in Bangladesh. She enjoyed those days very much. She felt proud going to work. Just like the other women in her family, who are either a doctor or engineer, she had made a name for herself. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-more-engineers-and-more-of-them-need-to-be-women-130282">Australia needs more engineers. And more of them need to be women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Overeducated, underemployed</h2>
<p>No, no one forced Selina to leave her profession when she moved to Australia. At the same time, no one guided her or told her how to rebuild her career in this foreign land. Selina’s case is not unique. Bangladeshis are a relatively new migrant community. Mostly they arrived in Australia through overseas scholarship programs during the late 1970s and the early 1980s, and <a href="https://researchrepository.rmit.edu.au/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Citizens-of-the-world-the-integration-of-transnationally-connected-Bangladeshi-and-Pakistani-immigrants-into-Australian-society/9921859064201341">later through the general skilled migration program from 2006 to 2011</a>. </p>
<p>According to 2021 census data, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/7101_AUS">51,491 people in Australia were born in Bangladesh</a>. Bangladeshi Muslim women here have significantly higher educational attainment than the wider Australian female population. The data shows 19.71% of Bangladeshi Muslim women in Australia have a postgraduate degree, compared with 5.41% of women in general. Overall, 22.75% of Bangladeshi Muslim women have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 15.87% of women across the board. </p>
<p>The same census data shows the unemployment rate to be 5.31% amongst Bangladeshi Muslim women compared to 2.21% in the wider female population. Salma Bint Shafiq, <a href="https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/items/3679c989-11f0-421e-82d9-4d44af4d0f89/1/">in her research into Bangladeshi migrants in Australia</a>, has found non-participation in the labour market is much more common for these women (30%) than it is for men (2%). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521230/original/file-20230417-16-eydi6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bangladeshi migrant women have high rates of non-participation in the labour market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“When I came to Australia”, said Selina, “I knew no one except my husband.” He is from a totally different profession and was struggling to make an entrance. Selina was aware of her ticking biological clock and did not want to miss out on motherhood. She’d already delayed motherhood because of the prospect of migration. And she had one of those pregnancy experiences where you constantly throw up. You can’t hold even a sip of water down. She had to carry a polybag in her hand at all time because she would vomit without any warning, any time, anywhere.</p>
<p>After the pregnancy, there was simply no time. Her husband was doing a second job to support his own study, career and family. She was there, alone, to recover from the baby blues, and at the same time taking care of a difficult baby who didn’t want to sleep at night. Two separate specialists gave the same verdict; some babies are just like that.</p>
<p>It’s interesting how one single step backward in one’s career starts an avalanche of falling behind. Eventually, there was a second baby and there were some attempts in between to study something related to the engineering field. </p>
<p>Oh, I just said it in a single sentence, didn’t I? </p>
<p>In reality, it didn’t happen that easily. There was extreme physical exhaustion, blood and sweat, months after months of sleepless nights, so much confusion with new babies, isolation, living like a single mum with two young kids all alone while the father was struggling to rebuild a career and doing two jobs. Which is not uncommon. Recent <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/characteristics-recent-migrants/latest-release#education">ABS statistics</a> show 57% of skilled visa holders have had two or more jobs simultaneously since arrival. </p>
<h2>‘Losing myself bit by bit’</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521224/original/file-20230417-20-875i6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three kinds of Bangladeshi pickles: olive, mixed, and jujube.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What does a new country do to a migrant wife? I met Selina to listen to her financial experiences, to identify any pattern of financial abuse in her spousal relationship. I ended up discovering how she went from engineer to pickle seller.</p>
<p>So far in my fieldwork, collecting “data” on spousal financial abuse, I have spoken to more than a dozen Bangladeshi migrant Muslim women living in New South Wales. In our in-depth interviews, stories similar to Selina’s have started to emerge. I have met Jasmin and Shimul (both pseudonyms), one a former banker and the other a university lecturer before she migrated. Both were unable to resume their careers here. Says Jasmin: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The moment I stepped out of the airport, everything was new to me. Even the sky looked different. I have never seen such a blue sky in my life. The people looked different. All my life I was a very good student in English, but I could not understand a single word they were talking. Instead of feeling joy and excitement, [it was] as if I was losing myself bit by bit into the unknown. It was traumatic. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both Jasmin and Shimul became pregnant shortly after arrival, giving birth for the first time, alone in a new land, without a single family member being around. Often their husbands are busy with second jobs to earn extra money to support the family. </p>
<p>I see a pattern emerging. A pattern where a migrant woman’s financial misery starts at day one of her journey to Australia; the day she steps into an unknown world, where her only bridge to this world is her husband. A husband who himself is often extremely busy earning enough money to support his two families; the new family in Australia, and his own parents and siblings back home in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>Intentionally or not, the wife is left alone, isolated and uninformed. She gets lost. And the impact lasts for many years to come. Financially and otherwise, she gradually becomes totally dependent on her husband. </p>
<p>For some couples, it does not take long for the husband to turn his wife’s financial dependency into a tool to control her mobility. Spousal financial abuse thrives when one partner starts manipulating, deceiving or coercing to create or maintain the other partner’s dependency. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-care-becomes-control-financial-abuse-cuts-across-cultures-70754">When care becomes control - financial abuse cuts across cultures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Do they think I am a robot?’</h2>
<p>“Do you want to try some?” Selina offered me three different types of pickles on a plate. I accepted. Not doing so would be rude. The pickles were delicious, made of mango, olive and mixed fruits. </p>
<p>“How come you make such delicious pickles? Did you learn to make pickles before you came here?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521176/original/file-20230417-14-1m2vw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Home-made mango pickle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She started laughing at my question. This time not with tears. My question was so funny to her that she held her stomach to balance the body’s vibration. Her laughter was contagious. Through my laughter, I managed to ask, “What’s so funny about this question?”</p>
<p>“It’s that …” she was still trying to get a hold of her laughter.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s just that I have never made pickle in my life before! … My mother never asked me to cook or to do any house chores because I was busy with my study. I was pampered in my house. Everyone knew studying engineering isn’t easy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“How come you make pickles now?”</p>
<p>Her laughter slowly wore off. One day she looked at her two young kids; she looked at the social media profiles of colleagues she once worked with in Bangladesh – now being promoted to senior positions … </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know how it feels? It feels like as if that was another life when I was an engineer. As if that life was a dream. These past many years, I was so busy making a home in this foreign land, going through difficult pregnancies, giving birth twice, and looking after these two kids who just started to go to school recently, coming so far almost all alone, somehow along the way, I have become someone else.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A silence fell upon us. She turned her back to me, cleaning some dishes in the kitchen basin, or did she just try to hide her tears? </p>
<p>She said, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everyone is so proud of my husband now that he is doing well in his field. At the same time, I can clearly see the pity in their eyes for me. No one says anything, they don’t need to. People can say so much without actually saying it out loud. After my second kid started school last year, I heard this a lot – ‘now you can go back to your career, can’t you?’. </p>
<p>I just smile. Do they think I am a robot? Just switch off the career one day, and after many years of having your life upside down, switch it back on and go restart the career! No one talks about the years of the [employment] gap that put me at the bottom of the list or maybe out of the list. No one talks about how lost I feel now. The first few weeks when my second kid went back to school, I felt so lost, I walked on the road alone for hours, didn’t know where I was going.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The silence again. So heavy on me I felt uncomfortable. I tried to concentrate on the pickles on the plate. I put the rest in my mouth. Would she tell me how she became a pickle-seller? I did not want to ask the question again.</p>
<p>She turned towards me, a strange smile on her face. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>One day, I felt so pathetic that I wanted to do something totally different … So, I tried to make pickles from a YouTube recipe. That’s the first time in my life I made pickles. My husband usually does not like pickles. But when he tried my pickles, he was surprised at how tasty it was. He jokingly said, ‘you know, people will actually buy this!‘</p>
<p>I suddenly thought, why not try to make pickles and sell them? Something that I can do from the house while not disturbing my set-up routine of taking care of house chores, looking after kids’ studies, dropping them off and picking them up from school… So, I did. I opened up a Facebook page and started to sell pickles. And it worked!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She looked at my plate and said, “Oh! You finished them! How lovely. Would you like more?”. </p>
<p>No, I did not want more, though they were really delicious. Her story was enough to fill me up.</p>
<h2>That choice</h2>
<p>Do I see myself a little bit in her story? What about my own struggle as a Bangladeshi migrant woman in this foreign land? Was that not me who went shop to shop in malls, with copies of a handwritten CV to drop off, looking for any kind of job, any kind of job at all?</p>
<p>Was that not me who one day burst into a flood of tears, crying to another Bangladeshi woman, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>what’s the use of me being the best student in my class? I understand not a single word they say! What kind of English is this?! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Was that not me who one night, when coming home after a long shift working at a chain shop, was the subject of racial slur by a drunk white man. The man was shouting F-words in front of a platform full of people waiting for the same train. Not a single person asked him to stop shouting. </p>
<p>And was that not me who had decided to leave her profession after her second child was born; who herself had to make that impossible choice, a choice between academic career and motherhood. How many of us can really manage to bounce back after a sharp fall like that? It took five years of struggle for me to come back to academia, but that’s another story for another time. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-is-still-an-everyday-experience-for-non-white-australians-where-is-the-plan-to-stop-this-179769">Racism is still an everyday experience for non-white Australians. Where is the plan to stop this?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>After a long interview, I said goodbye to Selina. I was walking back to my car when I thought, how many migrant women are out there with similar kinds of stories? They come to this country with such high hopes and dreams. </p>
<p>Since I started doing this fieldwork, whenever I see a visibly recognisable migrant woman, walking down the road, in the supermarket, or in the playground with kids, I wonder: what’s her story? What kind of dream did she have when she first came to Australia? Did Australia help her realise her dreams, or did it become the graveyard of her dreams? </p>
<p>I wonder.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Farjana Mahbuba 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.</span></em></p>Migrant women come to Australia with high hopes but their husbands’ careers often take precedence. Farjana Mahbuba spoke to Bangladeshi Muslim women, finding stories of isolation and under employment.Farjana Mahbuba, Researcher, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2031222023-04-13T13:09:39Z2023-04-13T13:09:39ZFast Fashion: Why garment workers’ lives are still in danger 10 years after Rana Plaza — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519920/original/file-20230407-22-j62yrw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">That cheap statement piece comes at a price: the industry has a 'murderous disregard for human life.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Clockwise: AP/Mahmud Hossain; AP/Ismail Ferdous; Unsplash/Markus Spiske; Unsplash/Clem Onojeghuo)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/ad814240-69ec-47f4-b6b5-05e21ad97582?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>Fast fashion is that ever-changing need to have the latest beautiful thing at a bargain price — that club-ready piece of clothing, that status symbol shoe or that must-have top you just found at the mall. </p>
<p>But that cheap statement piece comes at a price. <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035161">The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world, after the oil and gas sector.</a> It’s also famously unfair to its workers, the majority of whom are women. Although there has been a lot of talk about female empowerment, the reality is that most women who toil on the factory floor remain in poverty for most of their lives. </p>
<p>Ten years ago this month, much attention turned to the global garment industry when a group of garment factories collapsed at Rana Plaza near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The accident, called a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/apr/24/bangladeshi-police-target-garment-workers-union-rana-plaza-five-years-on">“mass industrial homicide”</a> by unions in Bangladesh, killed 1,124 people and injured at least 2,500 more. </p>
<p>Most of the people who went to work that day were young women, almost all were supporting families with their wages and all were at the bottom of the global production chain.</p>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/fast-fashion-why-garment-workers-lives-are-still-in-danger-10-years-after-rana-plaza">This week on <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, we look back at the Rana Plaza disaster to explore how much — or how little — has changed for garment worker conditions since.</p>
<p>The industry has a “<a href="https://www.brown.edu/academics/race-ethnicity/events/fast-fashion-and-racial-capitalism-power-and-vulnerability-global-supply-chains-gender-and">murderous disregard for human life.</a>” That’s how this episode’s guest, Minh-Ha Pham, puts it. She is an associate professor in media studies at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and the author of <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/why-we-cant-have-nice-things"><em>Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.</em></a></p>
<p>Also joining us is Dina Siddiqi, a feminist anthropologist and an expert on labour in Bangladeshi garment factories. She is an associate professor at New York University.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520620/original/file-20230412-26-awoga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social media campaigns like ‘I made your clothes’ can help to raise awareness but don’t necessarily address structural issues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Fashion Revolution)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Murderous disregard for life’</h2>
<p>The collapsed buildings at Rana Plaza had shown signs of cracks the day before. While other tenants in the buildings — the banks and shops — sent their workers home, the garment factories’ managers insisted their people come to work to meet the relentless deadlines of clothing manufacturing. </p>
<p>Ten years ago, but also today, Siddiqi says garment workers are left with impossible choices: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They did not feel they had the right to say no because they were threatened with dismissal. They were owed wages already. Those are everyday conditions in the garment industry…their choice was: risk dismissal and possible starvation…or risk their lives.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Approximately five million people in Bangladesh work to produce clothing for hundreds of major international brands, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/11/fashion-brands-paid-less-than-production-cost-to-bangladesh-firms">including Zara, H&M and GAP</a>. It is the second largest global producer of clothing and has the lowest wages. </p>
<p>Garment factories also exist in the Global North. Last week the United States Department of Labor released a report on garment workers in Los Angeles that said <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-04/garment-industry-los-angeles-low-wages-violations-us-department-of-labor-report">some were getting paid as little as $1.58 an hour</a>. </p>
<h2>Corporate solutions fall short</h2>
<p>While many corporations have now signed the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/business/garment-worker-safety-accord.html">Bangladesh Accord</a> in an attempt to make things safer, Minh-Ha Pham says the accord has a narrow definition of worker safety. The focus is on structural integrity of buildings and corporate liability. But Pham says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you talk to workers, safety means having a workplace free of physical, sexual verbal assault. Safety is getting paid on time. Not having the freedom of association, not having child care, not having maternity leave…create unsafe conditions of labour. [These are things that] initiatives like the Bangladesh accord don’t even begin to imagine.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The focus on corporate-led solutions, such as the accord, allows clothing brands to appear socially responsible in spite of the reality on the ground. Pham says that without oversight and regulation, these types of initiatives “make brands that are signing on to these initiatives…look good. Consumers feel good about these brands. But there’s no follow through.”</p>
<h2>Western saviour complex</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352893724_The_fashion_scandal_Social_media_identity_and_the_globalization_of_fashion_in_the_twenty-first_century">Social media campaigns</a> to hold brands accountable to their workers have proliferated in the last decade. </p>
<p>However well intended, Pham says these campaigns — primarily led by those in the Global North — don’t address the structural and systemic nature of exploitation inherent to the global garment industry. </p>
<p>She says the campaigns can actually take the attention away from the structural problems. “They make us feel like if we could just tweak this thing, then everything else will be okay. It actually legitimizes the system because (it says) the system is basically okay, but for A, B, and C things that we can fix.” </p>
<p>And Siddiqi says in the last 10 years, brands have actually paid Bangladeshi garment workers increasingly lower prices to make the exact same product. “So brands are squeezing Bangladesh at the same time that they’re telling Bangladesh factory owners that they must be better to their workers.”</p>
<p>Both Siddiqi and Pham also caution against the idea that this is solely a Bangladeshi problem. They say racist assumptions see the Global South as inherently corrupt and “backwards.” But these notions overshadow the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-04/garment-industry-los-angeles-low-wages-violations-us-department-of-labor-report">exploitation of and resistance by</a> racialized and gendered workers in the West, in places like Los Angeles. </p>
<p>Pham says “it’s easy to think of, you know, oh gosh, those people over there…They don’t care about humanity. They don’t care about safety. [But] this happened in California.” </p>
<p>For example, in 2020, Pham says, garment workers were being “held up as heroes because factories shifted to making masks for a while when we were wearing cloth masks. But (workers) oftentimes (were) coming in without health insurance, without safety protocols, oftentimes without masks risking COVID, (working) in California, for piece rate wages.” </p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>Both scholars say those who want to help to alleviate pervasive exploitation in the global garment factory industry must make efforts to understand an intentionally opaque supply chain system. This includes learning about brand contracts, international trade and labour laws and immigration and border policies. It also involves the necessary but difficult task of explicitly naming capitalism as a structural problem. </p>
<p>Ultimately, Pham and Siddiqi say western advocates must support collective actions initiated by the workers themselves.</p>
<h2>From The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fashion-production-is-modern-slavery-5-things-you-can-do-to-help-now-115889">Fashion production is modern slavery: 5 things you can do to help now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-businesses-and-consumers-can-do-to-tackle-modern-slavery-in-supply-chains-200694">Here's what businesses and consumers can do to tackle modern slavery in supply chains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-fashion-industry-keeps-failing-to-fix-labour-exploitation-87356">Why the fashion industry keeps failing to fix labour exploitation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-secret-does-it-again-cultural-appropriation-87987">Victoria's Secret does it again: Cultural appropriation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547915000101">“Starving for Justice”</a> by Dina Siddiqi</p>
<p><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/153596/fix-fashion-industrys-racism">“How to Fix the Fashion Industry’s Racism”</a> by Minh-Ha Pham</p>
<p><a href="http://www.taslimaakhter.com/garment_workers_life_struggle/">Taslima Akhter: Documentary photographer and activist </a></p>
<p><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/turn-up-the-heat-on-fairness-american-garment-workers-deserve-better/">“Turn Up the Heat on Fairness: American Garment Workers Deserve Better”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://remake.world/stories/news/colonialism-in-fashion-brands-are-todays-colonial-masters/">“Brands are Today’s Colonial Masters”</a></p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
We look back to the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,124 people and discuss how much — or how little — has changed for garment-worker conditions today.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022702023-03-24T09:35:26Z2023-03-24T09:35:26ZThe World Bank used to cause untold harm – but 30 years ago it started reforming. What went right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516958/original/file-20230322-1702-1ribfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Development projects can have profound impacts on their societies. There are many benefits that flow from building new roads and power plants, and from modernising agricultural practices. But they can also have permanent negative consequences. </p>
<p>For example, communities may be involuntarily relocated to make way for roads or power plants. These projects can change the way natural resources are used in a particular area, making it difficult or impossible for communities to continue their traditional agricultural practices. The job opportunities that they create can challenge traditional values and ways of living.</p>
<p>Historically, many of these projects have been owned or sponsored by governments, eager to bring the benefits of modernisation to their citizens. They have often been funded by multilateral institutions like the World Bank, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/archive/history/exhibits/Bretton-Woods-and-the-Birth-of-the-World-Bank">which was established </a> in 1944 to fund the reconstruction and development of its member states. </p>
<p>These institutions were not unaware of the environmental and social impacts of the projects they funded. However, they maintained that each state had to decide for itself how it wished to manage these impacts. They would argue that they were merely the funders, and so should defer to the government on how to manage them. It would be an affront to the state’s sovereignty for them to interfere with the government’s decisions on these aspects of the project.</p>
<p>The World Bank’s confidence in its ability to avoid responsibility for its project related decisions and actions was bolstered by the fact that it was <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2963050">immune from being sued in any national court</a>.</p>
<p>The result was that the bank supported some projects that were environmentally and socially damaging. As a result, during the 1980s the World Bank was <a href="https://brucemrich.com/book/mortgaging-the-earth-the-world-bank-environmental-impoverishment-and-the-crisis-of-development">the target of sustained protests by affected communities and their allies</a> around the world.</p>
<p>To its credit, 30 years ago the bank, following an international campaign in which this author participated, recognised that its position was untenable. In <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/sites/ip-ms8.extcc.com/files/documents/Resolution1993.pdf">1993 it established</a> the world’s first citizen driven independent accountability mechanism, the <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/">World Bank Inspection Panel</a>.</p>
<p>This article argues that the panel’s 30th anniversary is a moment to celebrate its accomplishments. The panel has significant limitations. Nevertheless, its impact on development and the international development financing institutions has been profound. </p>
<h2>Accomplishments</h2>
<p>The three-member panel is independent of the World Bank’s management. It receives and investigates complaints from communities who allege that they have been harmed or threatened with harm because of the World Bank’s failure to comply with its own policies and procedures in funding a particular project. In other words, the panel’s focus is exclusively on the conduct and decisions of the Bank’s staff and management. </p>
<p>It sends its findings to the bank’s board. In cases of noncompliance, the bank’s management is expected to submit an action plan to the board that explains how it will correct the noncompliance and its consequences. Both the report and the action plan are made public.</p>
<p>Since it was established, the panel’s investigations have resulted in some relief for affected communities. For example, 70,000 people, previously ignored by the World Bank, received compensation for their losses <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/panel-cases/jamuna-new-multipurpose-bridge-project">in a bridge project in Bangladesh</a>. In the <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/panel-cases/transitional-support-economic-recovery-credit-and-emergency-economic-and-social">Democratic Republic of Congo</a>, a forestry project was revised to provide greater protection to indigenous communities who had not been adequately consulted about the project.</p>
<p>The panel has also succeeded in establishing the principle that international financial organisations must be accountable for their own actions to the communities whose lives are affected by the projects and policies they finance.</p>
<p>Since its establishment, over 25 multilateral and national development banks and institutions <a href="https://accountabilityconsole.com/iams/">have established</a> their own independent accountability mechanisms. In total, these mechanisms have received <a href="https://accountabilityconsole.com/complaints/">1,634 complaints</a>, of which about 330 have been from 27 countries in Africa. Forty-five of the African cases have resulted in findings on compliance or noncompliance. </p>
<p>All findings of noncompliance have led to management action plans intended to correct the noncompliance.</p>
<p>The reports of these mechanisms are used both by their own institutions to improve their performance in development projects and to reduce the risk that they repeat old mistakes. They can also help ensure that they are held accountable when they do repeat these mistakes.</p>
<p>Many of these mechanisms now offer dispute resolution services in addition to compliance reviews. Many of them now also publish reports documenting the lessons they have learned about specific aspects of development projects.</p>
<p>It is important to note that many of the issues that arise in these cases also arise in private sector projects. This means that the reports provide guidance and help develop good practice standards for all development projects. They are also used to develop best practice in regard to the human rights and environmental responsibilities of business.</p>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p>To be sure, independent accountability mechanisms face significant challenges. </p>
<p>The first is that bringing cases to the mechanisms is not simple. Many of the successful cases have required communities to obtain the assistance of technical experts. This means that the cases that are brought come from communities that have access to sophisticated NGOs and advisers rather than because they are the most urgent cases.</p>
<p>Second, they cannot make binding decisions or determine that the communities should be given a remedy. There have been cases in which those who have been harmed by the action of the banks have been compensated. But this is not the norm. In fact, there is only one case in Africa in which a panel investigation led to victims receiving monetary compensation. The panel’s report <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/panel-cases/transport-sector-development-project-additional-financing">in a case in Uganda</a> resulted in the World Bank developing a new policy on gender-based violence and establishing a trust fund to compensate, and support the girls and women who were the victims of this violence. </p>
<p>Designing and funding remedies that can be used in all similarly situated cases is politically and technically complicated. But it is not acceptable that those who have been harmed by the Bank’s own failures do not receive an effective remedy that compensates them for their loss.</p>
<p>Third, the bravery required to bring complaints to these mechanisms must be noted. They require the complainants to go to an international forum in opposition to their own governments or powerful interests in their own countries who support the projects the banks are funding. It is therefore inevitable that in some cases, the supporters of the project will retaliate against the complainants. This suggests that the mechanisms and the banks have a responsibility to take action to protect the complainants. </p>
<p>To their credit, the banks and the mechanisms have foreseen this problem and do allow for confidential complaints. But the procedures that seek to protect the complainants from reprisals have not always been fully effective.</p>
<p>It is now standard practice for multilateral financing institutions like the World Bank to have an independent citizen driven accountability mechanism that focuses exclusively on the responsibilities of the institution. The only exception to this general rule is the International Monetary Fund.</p>
<p>The mechanisms have also demonstrated that they can evolve and adapt to new challenges. While their limitations have also become clear, we should celebrate the Inspection Panel’s <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/node/4966">30th anniversary</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danny Bradlow receives funding from the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) for an unrelated project. He is a Compliance Officer in the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU), the independent accountability mechanism for UNDP. He has also conducted invesitgations for the independent accountability mechanisms at the African Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and has been a consultant to the World Bank on independent accountability issues.</span></em></p>Thirty years ago the World Bank recognised that its position was untenable. It put in place mechanisms to make the bank more accountable to ordinary people.Danny Bradlow, Professor/Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2008862023-03-07T13:44:36Z2023-03-07T13:44:36ZDiscrimination based on caste is pervasive in South Asian communities around the world – now Seattle has banned it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513238/original/file-20230302-344-1unfus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5635%2C3759&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Speakers discussing the proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws at Seattle City Hall, on Feb. 21, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SeattleCasteDebate/adce28b7f87c4f5896b9650d20b89d43/photo?Query=seattle%20caste&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=33&currentItemNo=18">AP Photo/John Froschauer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Seattle became the first city in the U.S. to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/22/1158687243/seattle-becomes-the-first-u-s-city-to-ban-caste-discrimination">outlaw caste-based discrimination</a> against immigrants from stigmatized groups in South Asia’s traditional social hierarchy.</p>
<p>The ordinance, adding caste to Seattle’s existing anti-discrimination policies, was proposed by Kshama Sawant, the only Indian American councilwoman in the city, which is home to an estimated 75,000 Indian Americans. Sawant, herself from a privileged caste background, has been a vocal critic of the discriminatory caste system. Sawant said the ordinance – which was approved on Feb. 21, 2023 – would help put an end to an “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/17/seattle-council-to-vote-on-law-banning-caste-discrimination">invisible and unaddressed</a>” form of discrimination in Seattle.</p>
<p>A year ago, in January 2022, the California State University, America’s largest public higher education system, also added caste to its <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-20/csu-adds-caste-to-its-anti-discrimination-policy">anti-discrimination policy</a>, allowing students, staff and faculty across its 23 campuses to report caste bias and discrimination. </p>
<p>Influential interest groups advocating for the Hindu community in the U.S. have opposed the Seattle decision. The Coalition of Hindus in North America, a Hindu advocacy group, <a href="https://cohna.org/org-letter-opposing-seattle-caste-ordinance/">has called it</a> “nothing but bigotry against the South Asian community by using racist, colonial tropes of caste.”</p>
<p>While the caste system is often conflated in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616">Western media</a> with the Hindu religion and India alone, that is far from the truth. As <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2016.1152173">social</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12309">scientists</a> specializing in South Asian studies, we assert that the caste system neither is exclusive to the Hindu religion nor is it restricted to India and Indians.</p>
<h2>Caste in South Asia</h2>
<p>While the caste system originated in Hindu scriptures, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691088952/castes-of-mind">it crystallized in its current form during British colonial rule</a> and has stratified society in every South Asian religious community. In addition to India, it is present in <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1875415">Pakistan</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25764189">Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24365026?seq=1">Maldives</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3295446">Bhutan</a>.</p>
<p>Social, economic and political status in this pernicious system is tied to traditional occupations fixed by birth. Brahmins, for example, who were traditionally assigned priestly work, are at the top, and Dalits, relegated to the bottom, are forced into occupations that are considered abject in South Asia. These include janitorial work, maintaining sewage systems, skinning dead animals, and leather tanning. Strict rules of caste-based marriages maintain these boundaries firmly.</p>
<p>Caste organizes social life not only among Hindus but also in Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Buddhist communities in the region. It is an intergenerational system based on birth into a caste group. Caste identities stay even generations after someone converts out of Hinduism and into any of these faiths.</p>
<p>Among <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-caste">South Asian Christians</a>, Anglo-Indians – of mixed descent from Indian and British parents – are parallel to Brahmins, who remain at the top of the hierarchy. Middle-level Hindu castes come next, followed by those from Indigenous backgrounds. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/07/12/8-key-findings-about-christians-in-india/">Those who converted to Christianity from Dalit groups</a> are placed at the bottom. In other words, the system remains unchanged.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Caste_and_Social_Stratification_Among_Mu.html?id=8dGFAAAAIAAJ">Muslims across the region</a> are organized with the minority Ashraf communities at the top. The Ashraf community claims noble status as the “original” Muslims in South Asia because of their descent from Central Asian, Iranian and Arab ethnic groups. The middle in this social hierarchy is composed of Ajlaf, considered to be “low-born” communities that converted from Hindu artisanal castes. The group at the bottom includes converts from Dalit communities who are identified with the demeaning term Arzal, which means vile or vulgar. </p>
<p>In the Sikh community, the powerful landowning caste, Jat-Sikhs, <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2003/26/special-articles/scheduled-castes-sikh-community.html">are at the top</a>, followed by converts from Hindu trading communities in the middle and converts from lower-caste Hindu communities, Mazhabi Sikhs, at the bottom. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sikh men wearing colorful turbans and women with their heads covered gather together." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459542/original/file-20220425-2721-nf6eea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dalit Sikhs gather for a protest in New Delhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IndiaDalitProtest/87814b9fc16e412aa1933d416f10d360/photo?Query=hindus%20caste&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=191&currentItemNo=12">AP Photo/ R S Iyer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While Buddhism in India is close to being casteless, its dominant versions in Sri Lanka and Nepal have <a href="https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8676">caste-based hierarchies</a>.</p>
<h2>Caste carries over after conversion</h2>
<p>While many of the so-called lower-caste groups converted to escape their persecution in Hinduism, their new religions did not treat them as fully equal.</p>
<p>South Asian Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists with Dalit family histories continue to face prejudice from their new co-religionists. They are excluded from or <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4412102?seq=1">experience segregation</a> at shared places of worship <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11229170">and sites of burial or cremation</a> across all these regions.</p>
<p>Social scientists have shown that strict caste-based rules continue to regulate social organization and everyday interactions. Intercaste marriages are rare: for example in India, they have stagnated at about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909619829896">5% of all marriages over the past several decades</a>. When they take place, rule-breaking individuals risk <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47823588">violent retribution</a>.</p>
<p>While urbanization and education have normalized everyday interactions across caste groups in shared urban spaces, entertaining lower-caste individuals in upper-caste households is still taboo in many families. A 2014 <a href="https://www.ncaer.org/news/biggest-caste-survey-one-in-four-indians-admit-to-practising-untouchability">survey</a> found one in every four Indians to be practicing untouchability, a dehumanizing practice in which people from Dalit castes are not to be touched or allowed to come in contact with upper-caste individuals. Untouchability was prohibited in India in 1950 when its egalitarian constitution came into force. </p>
<p>However, homeownership is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247818812330">segregated</a> by caste, and religion and caste discrimination is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24482557">pervasive in the rental market</a>, where residential associations use flimsy procedural excuses for keeping lower-caste individuals out. </p>
<p>Lower castes are expected to defer to the higher status of upper castes, refrain from expressing themselves in shared spaces and avoid displaying material affluence. They risk being punished by <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/social-boycott-of-dalit-families-odisha-rights-panel-takes-cognizance-seeks-report-from-officials-6569912/">socioeconomic boycotts</a>, which could include ostracizing the Dalits or keeping them out of employment. </p>
<p>It may even include <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/21/india-dalits-wedding-horse/">assault</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/13/nepal-to-investigate-dalit-killings-following-arranged-marriage-dispute">murder</a>. In Pakistan, anti-blasphemy laws are used as a pretext for <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/12/15/it-is-time-to-talk-about-caste-in-pakistan-and-pakistani-diaspora">caste violence against Dalits</a>, many of whom have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35910331">converted to Christianity</a>. </p>
<h2>Caste and life outcomes</h2>
<p>Studies show that caste-based identity is a major determinant of overall <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109226119">success</a> in South Asia. Upper-caste individuals have better literacy and greater representation in <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1293431.pdf">higher education</a>. They tend to be <a href="http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/Bharti2018.pdf">wealthier</a> and dominate <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2007/41/caste-and-economic-discrimination-special-issues/legacy-social-exclusion.html">private-sector employment</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2013/06/special-articles/caste-and-entrepreneurship-india.html">entrepreneurship</a>. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/9038/WDR2006_0012.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">affirmative action programs</a> initiated by the British and continued in independent India have made improvements in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414021989755">educational levels of lower-caste groups</a>, employment opportunities for them have been limited.</p>
<p>Studies also demonstrate how caste identity affects <a href="https://gsdrc.org/document-library/discrimination-and-childrens-nutritional-status-in-india/">nutrition and health</a> through purchasing power and <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FA117/FA117.pdf">access to health services</a>.</p>
<p>Most socioeconomic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2394481118808107">elites in South Asia</a>, regardless of religion, are affiliated with upper-caste groups, and the vast majority of the poor come from lower-caste groups. </p>
<h2>Caste in the diaspora</h2>
<p>Scholars have documented similar discriminatory practices in the diaspora in the <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2002/31/commentary/punjabis-england.html">U.K.</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/caste-system-of-india-and-south-asia-in-australia-dalit-rights/13135622">Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/indian-caste-system-in-canada-called-a-disease-worse-than-racism-1.3090441">Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/37/notes/caste-among-indian-diaspora-africa.html">African continent</a>. </p>
<p>Caste has started getting recognition as a discriminatory category, especially in the U.S., in recent years. A 2016 <a href="https://www.equalitylabs.org/castesurvey">survey, “Caste in the USA</a>,”
the first formal documentation of caste discrimination within the U.S. diaspora, found that caste discrimination is pervasive across workplaces, educational institutions, places of worship and even in romantic partnerships. </p>
<p>In 2020, the state of California <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cisco-lawsuit/california-accuses-cisco-of-job-discrimination-based-on-indian-employees-caste-idUSKBN2423YE">sued</a> Cisco Systems, a technology company in the Silicon Valley, on a complaint against caste-based discrimination. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/harvard-adds-caste-bias-protections-graduate-student-workers-rcna7279">Harvard University</a>, <a href="https://www.colby.edu/admission/nondiscrimination-policy/">Colby College</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-11-18/uc-davis-adds-caste-to-its-anti-discrimination-policy">University of California, Davis</a>, and <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/president/letters/2019-12-17-adding-caste-to-our-nondiscrimination-harassment-policy.html">Brandeis University</a> have recognized caste as a protected status and have included it in their nondiscrimination policies. </p>
<p>Seattle’s new ordinance may trigger similar moves across other U.S. cities where South Asian Americans from nonelite caste backgrounds are settling down and address caste-based discrimination among other South Asian faith communities as well. For now, this ordinance will help put the spotlight on this centuries-old system that denies equality to a substantive section of the population on the basis of an oppressive ideology.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/caste-doesnt-just-exist-in-india-or-in-hinduism-it-is-pervasive-across-many-religions-in-south-asia-and-the-diaspora-180470">piece first published</a> on April 27, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two social scientists explain how caste-identities are pervasive in not just Hinduism but other South Asian faith groups as well.Aseem Hasnain, Assistant Professor of Sociology, California State University, FresnoAbhilasha Srivastava, Assistant Professor of Economics, California State University, FresnoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2007472023-03-03T12:29:19Z2023-03-03T12:29:19ZSouth Africa is exporting more food. But it needs to find new growth frontiers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512632/original/file-20230228-26-88r3ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wine remains among South Africa's major agricultural exports</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African agricultural exports were up for the third consecutive year in 2022, reflecting <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/node/468">favourable production conditions</a> and higher commodity prices. The export numbers for the full year have not yet been published. I have calculated the annual data for 2022 using quarterly trade export statistics published by <a href="https://www.trademap.org/stAbout_tradeMap.aspx?nvpm=%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c">Trade Map</a>, a trade statistics portal developed by <a href="https://intracen.org/about-us/governance">the International Trade Centre</a>, <a href="https://unctad.org/about">the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development</a> and <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/what_we_do_e.htm">the World Trade Organisation</a>.</p>
<p>The major export crops continued to be maize, wine, grapes, citrus, berries, nuts, apples and pears, sugar, avocados, and wool. </p>
<p>These products have been the drivers of exports over the past couple of decades. In particular, fruit and wine have increasingly become the leading export products. These have driven a rise in the value of agriculture (and agro-processing) exports, which have <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-farm-exports-are-an-economic-lifeline-with-weak-spots-189987#:%7E:text=SA%20agriculture%20exports.,9%25%20in%20the%20decade%20before">averaged 11% of the South Africa’s overall exports, up from 9% in the decade before</a>. </p>
<p>South Africa now exports roughly half of its agricultural produce in <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-farm-exports-are-an-economic-lifeline-with-weak-spots-189987#:%7E:text=SA%20agriculture%20exports.,9%25%20in%20the%20decade%20before">value terms</a>. Citrus, table grapes, wine and a range of deciduous fruits dominate the export list. Increasingly, we are seeing the <a href="https://wandilesihlobo.com/2018/11/04/who-is-buying-south-african-beef/">encouraging uptick in beef exports</a>. </p>
<p>These robust exports have enabled South Africa to retain its position as a <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/article/why-south-african-agricultural-products-face-frontiers-african-markets">net exporter of agricultural products</a> over time. In 2022, South Africa’s agricultural exports reached US$12.8 billion, up 4% from the previous year.</p>
<p>Imports, nevertheless, remain significant, averaging US$6.6 billion over the past five years. In 2022, the top imported products were rice, palm oil, wheat, poultry and whiskies. These originated primarily from Asia, the European Union, the UK and the Americas. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513405/original/file-20230303-20-5d29q8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on my calculations, using <a href="https://www.trademap.org/Index.aspx?nvpm=1%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c">Trade Map 2022 data</a>, South Africa’s agricultural imports amounted to US$7.3 billion, up 6% from the previous year. Considering this import value against the export value of US$12.8 billion, South Africa’s agriculture realised a record trade surplus of US$5.5 billion. </p>
<p>In view of this, focus should now be on expansion of South Africa’s agricultural exports beyond its typical markets in the African continent, EU and parts of Asia, to new growth frontiers. There is <a href="https://www.namc.co.za/aamp/#:%7E:text=The%20AAMP%20is%20one%20of,post%20the%20Covid%2D19%20pandemic%22%22">growth in domestic production</a>, and South Africa will require new markets for the expanding harvest. </p>
<p>The priority countries for expanding agricultural exports should be China, South Korea, Japan, the US, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Philippines and Bangladesh. All have sizeable populations and large imports of agricultural products.</p>
<h2>Who is buying South African?</h2>
<p>My calculations using <a href="https://www.trademap.org/Index.aspx?nvpm=1%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c">Trademap data </a> show that the African continent remains a leading market, accounting for 37% of South Africa’s agricultural exports in 2022.</p>
<p>These exports are concentrated within the Southern African Development Community region. But <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/article/why-south-african-agricultural-products-face-frontiers-african-markets">my recent research shows</a> that South Africa’s agriculture export opportunities within the African continent will be limited due to <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/article/why-south-african-agricultural-products-face-frontiers-african-markets">structural challenges</a>, preventing the agricultural sector from expanding its exports into untapped markets. This is despite the <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/article/new-opportunities-south-african-agriculture-african-continental-free-trade-area">hope that’s been placed on the African Continental Free Trade Area</a>. </p>
<p>Asia was the second-largest agricultural market, accounting for 27% of exports, followed by the EU, accounting for 19%. The Americas region was the fourth largest, accounting for 7%, and the remaining 10% went to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Within the rest of the world category, the UK, historically South Africa’s major market for agricultural produce, was one of the leading markets. </p>
<p>The products of exports to these markets were primarily the same, with the African continent and Asia importing over two-thirds of maize harvests. Meanwhile, exports to other regions were mainly fruit and wine.</p>
<p>Asia has seen much faster growth in exports over the past six years, while the African continent and the EU have remained fairly stable.</p>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p>South Africa’s robust export earnings were achieved in the face of various challenges in ports and key export markets. </p>
<p>For example, at the start of 2022, <a href="https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/cape-town-port-congestion-eases-up-as-workers-return/">logistical challenges in the port of Cape Town</a> disrupted the exports of table grapes and other deciduous fruits. Thankfully, <a href="https://wandilesihlobo.com/2023/02/21/sa-agriculture-exports-showed-resilience-in-2022-despite-headwinds/">cooperation between Transnet and organised agriculture</a> helped minimise the constraints, and opened up channels of communication that were critical for managing the flow of exports and attending to pressing problems.</p>
<p>The Durban port, which handles <a href="https://www.southafrica.net/gl/en/travel/article/south-africa-s-eight-seaports">about 60%</a> of the country’s exports and imports, faced fewer challenges than the previous year. As a result, citrus exporters faced a relatively better export season from a logistics perspective. The smoother flow of agricultural exports through Durban was also brought about by increased cooperation between organised agriculture and <a href="https://www.transnet.net/Pages/Home.aspx">Transnet</a>.</p>
<p>Credit should go to organised agriculture groupings, the government, Transnet and various logistical groups that worked tirelessly to ensure a flow of products to export destinations. While there are still many challenges within logistics, Transnet’s willingness to cooperate closely with the agricultural community has helped improve product flow.</p>
<p>South African exports also faced non-tariff barriers in some key export markets, such as China for wool and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-citrus-new-eu-rules-are-unjust-and-punitive-188387">EU for citrus</a>. </p>
<p>China <a href="https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/breaking-china-un-bans-sa-wool-imports/#:%7E:text=The%20ban%2C%20instituted%20by%20China,of%20exports%20in%20value%20terms">temporarily blocked South African wool</a> in response to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in South Africa.</p>
<p>This was a misstep on China’s part as there is <a href="https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/agri-sa-assures-wool-exports-are-safe-while-ban-on-exports-to-china-persists-2022-08-02">already a framework</a> for dealing with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease to ensure the safety of wool exports to China. Notably, the outbreak was on cattle, not sheep, which should have provided further comfort about the safety of wool exports.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/just-in-china-lifts-ban-on-sa-wool-exports-20220823#:%7E:text=The%20value%20of%20wool%20produced,80%25%20is%20exported%20to%20China">China lifted the ban</a> after about four months. However, it had already had a notable financial impact on South African wool farmers and exporting businesses. China <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/sa-wool-exports-resume-to-china-in-the-nick-of-time-5bc4300e-53e1-4fc8-94f2-a64fee1336a6">accounts for just over 70%</a> of South Africa’s wool exports.</p>
<p>For its part, the EU <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-citrus-new-eu-rules-are-unjust-and-punitive-188387">imposed protectionist measures</a> on South Africa’s agriculture by <a href="https://www.tralac.org/publications/article/15720-the-new-eu-rules-for-citrus-imports-from-south-africa-background-applicable-legal-texts-and-processes-and-the-dispute-declared-by-south-africa-under-the-rules-of-the-wto.html">changing its regulation on plant safety for citrus</a> without notifying its trading partners in reasonable time. </p>
<p>The new regulation purports to protect the EU from a quarantine organism, “false codling moth”, by introducing stringent new cold treatment requirements, particularly on citrus imports from Africa, mainly affecting South Africa, Zimbabwe and Eswatini. This was a contentious issue, especially as South Africa had <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2019-002282-ASW_EN.pdf">already put rigorous measures to control the moth</a>, which the EU used as a pretext to restrict citrus imports from Africa.</p>
<h2>Focus areas</h2>
<p>Given that South Africa’s agriculture is export-orientated, the focus should be on maintaining smooth relations with existing critical export markets while searching for additional new markets. </p>
<p>This is particularly important in the context of growing tensions between the east and the west, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2023/01/04/a-roadmap-for-us-china-relations-in-2023/">specifically the US and China</a>.</p>
<p>South Africa has to maintain open and friendlier relations with both groupings as the exports of agriculture are evenly spread across these regions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200747/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).</span></em></p>South Africa’s focus should be on maintaining smooth relations with critical export markets while searching for new ones.Wandile Sihlobo, Senior Fellow, Department of Agricultural Economics, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995042023-03-01T19:06:16Z2023-03-01T19:06:16ZAmid a worsening refugee crisis, public support is high in both Australia and NZ to accept more Rohingya<p><a href="https://www.unocha.org/rohingya-refugee-crisis">Nearly one million</a> stateless Rohingya people who fled brutal ethnic cleansing in Myanmar have been languishing in extremely congested refugee camps in Bangladesh for the past five and a half years.</p>
<p>While the United States recently announced a <a href="https://www.state.gov/resettlement-initiative-for-vulnerable-rohingya-refugees-in-bangladesh/">resettlement program</a> for Rohingya refugees and the UK <a href="https://minorityrights.org/programmes/library/trends/trends2018/united-kingdom/">resettled around 300 Rohingya from the camps prior to 2020</a> under a now-defunct scheme, this hasn’t caused even a dent in the number of people living in the world’s largest refugee camp. </p>
<p>No other countries have accepted refugee applications from the camps, but the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/rohingyas-bangladesh-us-may-consider-taking-good-number-them-2090053">has expressed optimism</a> that a good number of Rohingya may eventually be resettled by the US and others.</p>
<p>Since 2008, Australia has <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-worlds-biggest-refugee-camp-is-at-breaking-point-what-is-australia-doing-to-help/z0d554j6x">granted visas</a> to just 470 Rohingya under its special humanitarian program – a very small number considering the extreme need. </p>
<p>All of these refugees were accepted into the program from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries in the region. This creates a perverse incentive for Rohingya from the Bangladesh camps to get on rickety boats and make the dangerous sea journey to those countries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512346/original/file-20230227-850-yb9but.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rohingya people rest on a beach in Aceh province, Indonesia, after arriving by boat in February.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Riska Munawarah</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>UN figures show a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jan/18/rohingya-fleeing-bangladesh-boat-soars-human-smugglers">more than 360% surge</a> in the number of Rohingya who boarded boats to try to get to Malaysia and Indonesia last year, with 3,500 making the journey, compared to just 700 in 2021.</p>
<p>In early February, Momen <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-10/bangladesh-calls-for-australia-to-take-more-rohingyas-myanmar/101958390">called on</a> Australia to do more to resettle the Rohingya stranded in his country.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia is relatively more resourceful, so I think it’s high time Australia come forward and resettle some more of those distressed people. […] Australia has the capacity, it has the resources — there’s only a need for a political mindset. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to our new research, there is public support for this to happen. In surveys conducted last year, a majority of Australians and New Zealanders said they have positive views about the Rohingya and support the resettlement of more Rohingya refugees in their countries. </p>
<h2>Increasingly dire conditions</h2>
<p>The UN high commissioner for human rights has called the violence the Rohingya suffered at the hands of the Myanmar military a “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/09/564622-un-human-rights-chief-points-textbook-example-ethnic-cleansing-myanmar">textbook example of ethnic cleansing</a>”. And a major UN investigation confirmed the mass killings and rapes were committed with “<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/myanmar-ffm/index">genocidal intent</a>”. </p>
<p>There is clearly no hope of the Rohingya returning to their homes for the foreseeable future. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/myanmar-military-coup-2021-100095">military coup</a> in Myanmar two years ago brought to power the very army that perpetrated the crimes against the Rohingya.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-the-un-has-found-myanmars-military-committed-genocide-against-the-rohingya-102251">Explainer: why the UN has found Myanmar’s military committed genocide against the Rohingya</a>
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<p>And they have a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/04/bangladesh-new-restrictions-rohingya-camps#:%7E:text=New%20restrictions%20have%20also%20been,schools%2C%20affecting%20about%2060%2C000%20students.">very limited future</a> in Bangladesh, where the authorities have recently been restricting their livelihoods, movement and access to education.</p>
<p>A UN humanitarian appeal to support the Rohingya refugees <a href="https://fts.unocha.org/appeals/1082/summary">received</a> only half the funding required in 2022, leaving many needs unmet and Bangladesh to <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/does-anyone-want-to-solve-the-rohingya-crisis/">shoulder much of the burden</a>. </p>
<p>The situation became so dire last November, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund had to <a href="https://bangladesh.un.org/en/209192-cerf-allocates-9-million-rohingya-refugee-response-bangladesh#:%7E:text=As%2520of%252031%2520August%25202022,Teknaf%2520Upazilas%2520of%2520the%2520Cox's">release</a> US$9 million (A$13.4 million) in emergency funding just to make sure the refugees had enough food, water and sanitation items.</p>
<p>So, in the absence of a repatriation plan, can the world be persuaded to accept more refugees?</p>
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<h2>What our research found</h2>
<p>Our research shows a majority of the public would support this in Australia and New Zealand. </p>
<p>We recently reviewed data from a large-scale online survey as part of the <a href="https://sinofon.cz/surveys">Sinophone Borderlands project</a> investigating global attitudes towards China and other issues. The survey collected responses from over 1,200 people in 56 different countries between 2020 and 2022 – more than 80,000 altogether. Several questions asked about the Rohingya people specifically. </p>
<p>When asked how positively or negatively respondents felt about the Rohingya people on a scale of zero to 100, the average Australian response was 53.6, while in New Zealand it was 60.8. </p>
<p>There was minimal variation by gender or when comparing urban versus rural, but we saw more positive responses among those who were educated, younger and satisfied with their country’s political situation and/or their own economic wellbeing.</p>
<p>When asked specifically about their level of support for the resettlement of displaced Rohingya in their country, responses were actually more positive. </p>
<p>Asked to represent their support on a scale of one (definitely no) to seven (definitely yes), the average (mean) response in Australia was 4.20 and in New Zealand it was 4.54. Again, there was minimal variation by gender, but more highly educated respondents were more positive.</p>
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<p>Interestingly, we didn’t notice much variation when it came to political party, either. Unsurprisingly, those on the left responded with higher levels of support for Rohingya resettlement in both countries. However, the average level of support was still more positive than negative for voters of all main parties.</p>
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<h2>What Australia and New Zealand are doing</h2>
<p>Australia’s response to the Rohingya crisis has been to provide humanitarian aid, but it has resisted <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/myanmar-burma/2/">calls to resettle</a> any of the Rohingya from the camps.</p>
<p>When we contacted the Home Affairs department about this, a spokesperson responded by saying the government is “committed to generous and flexible humanitarian and settlement programs that meets Australia’s international protection obligations”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The UNHCR and the international community continue to work on creating conditions for a safe return of Rohingya people to Myanmar. Australia’s response continues to focus on humanitarian aid to Bangladesh and Myanmar.</p>
<p>Any persons, including Rohingya, who believe they meet the requirements for a humanitarian visa and wish to seek Australia’s assistance can make an application.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed, Australia has been generous in its humanitarian response to the Rohingya. It was the <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/bangladesh-funding-2022">second-largest country donor</a> in 2022, giving about $A20.4 million (plus another $A16.7 million from private donors in Australia). </p>
<p>New Zealand’s response has been largely the same, committing about NZ$1 million (A$918,000) last year, but offering no refugee resettlement places specifically from the camps. </p>
<p>Our research suggests there is solid support for policy changes in both Australia and New Zealand, including among even conservative voters in both countries. </p>
<p>On the basis of this data, we strongly urge the Australian and New Zealand governments to reconsider their refugee intake policies and create a special Rohingya category to resettle refugees from Bangladesh.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/generous-aid-to-ukraine-is-diverting-resources-away-from-other-refugee-crises-around-the-world-190961">Generous aid to Ukraine is diverting resources away from other refugee crises around the world</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristina Kironska's research was supported by the European Regional Development Fund – Project “Sinophone Borderlands – Interaction at the Edges” CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000791. Besides the Palacky University Olomouc she is affiliated with the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and with Amnesty International Slovakia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Ware 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.</span></em></p>Both countries have accepted very few Rohingya refugees to date, but new research suggests most Australians and New Zealanders are willing to resettle more.Anthony Ware, Associate Professor in International & Community Development, Deakin UniversityKristina Kironska, Assistant Professor, Palacky University OlomoucLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967202023-01-04T20:44:20Z2023-01-04T20:44:20ZBy helping Rohingya women, Canada can do the right thing and demonstrate global leadership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503105/original/file-20230104-22-6g4jf5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=82%2C14%2C4896%2C3426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women display a poster during a rally against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UN Security Council recently adopted its <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/22/un-security-council-resolution-demands-end-to-myanmar-violence">first resolution on Myanmar</a> in more than seven decades. The resolution demanded an end to the violence and called on Myamnar’s military junta to release all political prisoners. In 2021, the military seized power in the country in a violent coup that saw thousands killed and jailed. </p>
<p>In 2022, Canada announced its long awaited Indo-Pacific strategy. The strategy focuses on <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-launches-new-indo-pacific-strategy-focus-disruptive-china-2022-11-27/">deepening economic ties with Pacific countries and boosting Canada’s military and cyber security in the region</a>.</p>
<p>The strategy also states that Canada will “<a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/indo-pacific-indo-pacifique/index.aspx?lang=eng">speak up for universal human rights</a>” and defend “human rights in the region, including women’s rights.”</p>
<p>Since 2017, Canada has been providing humanitarian aid to the Rohingya. The <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/myanmar-phase2.aspx?lang=eng">Canadian government</a> has pledged $288 million in humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>A strategy that truly stands up for women’s rights would advance Canada’s global leadership through offering greater support to the Rohingya, who are described as the “<a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/es/content/recognizing-the-rohingya-and-their-horrifying-pers/">world’s most persecuted minority</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands in a queue carrying a baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502449/original/file-20221221-19-qhm714.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rohingya refugees board a ship as they are ferried to Bhasan Char, or floating island, in the Bay of Bengal, from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Saleh Noman)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Who are the Rohingya?</h2>
<p>The Rohingya are an ethnic minority group in Myanmar. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/12/5/humans-are-for-the-grave-karen-face-myanmar-military-violence">Along with other minority groups</a>, they have been the regular target of state violence by the <a href="http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/myanmar">Myanmar military</a>, also known as the Tatmadaw.</p>
<p>In August 2017, the Tatmadaw launched a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/24/myanmar-no-justice-no-freedom-rohingya-5-years">brutal campaign in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state</a>. Many international organizations, including the UN, reported evidence of widespread <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2021.1931136">sexual violence</a> as well as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rakhine-events/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rakhine-events/">massacres and the destruction of villages</a>.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled to neighbouring Bangladesh where they <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/23/five-years-rohingya-refugees-2017-bangladesh-myanmar-military-crackdown">live in poor conditions</a>. </p>
<p>The government of Myanmar has systematically denied the population the right to education in their own language and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rohingya-crisis">discriminated against them based on their religion</a>. Myanmar’s leaders have repeatedly branded the Rohingya as <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/10/enemies-of-the-state/">illegal immigrants</a>, denying them fundamental rights to education and to seek employment. </p>
<h2>Sexual violence during the 2017 Rohingya genocide</h2>
<p>Several UN member states, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/21/canada-accuses-myanmar-of-genocide-against-rohingya">including Canada</a>, have condemned Myanmar’s actions, labelling them genocide. <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/myanmar-ffm/sexualviolence">A 2018 UN report</a> documented how sexual violence was “<a href="https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/sexual-violence-and-genocide-the-international-court-of-justices-ruling-on-rohingya/">strategically deployed</a>” against Rohingya women and girls.</p>
<p>Reports from health-care providers indicate that in 2017, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13038-7">conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV)</a> was perpetrated by the Myanmar military. Along with mass rapes, the military would beat and shoot the victims who were predominantly women. Sometimes, they would also murder family members in front of the victims. </p>
<p>Evidence published by the UN and other human rights organizations indicate that the Myanmar militia’s use of <a href="https://restlessbeings.org/articles/genocidal-rape-analysis-of-tools-and-tactics-to-dehumanize-a-community">rape was a tool of genocide</a> to result in the complete and partial destruction of the Rohingya community. Survivor testimonies published by the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organizations reveal that sexual violence and rape were meticulously planned. </p>
<p>The military raided Rohingya villages and <a href="https://thesecuritydistillery.org/all-articles/weaponisation-of-female-body-the-genocidal-rape-of-the-rohingya-people">forcefully entered households</a> where women were gathering. Survivors recounted how soldiers would take turns raping the women. </p>
<p>CRSV is causing a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-020-00329-2">public health crisis</a> for Rohingya women in refugee camps. While urgent health care was dispatched by human rights organizations, much of it focused on treating infectious diseases and physical trauma. </p>
<p>CRSV can be particularly stigmatizing for the victims, especially in conservative patriarchal societies. Survivors may feel reluctant to report the crime because of the shame that could bring them and their families. </p>
<p>Lack of access to health care is also a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/30/rohingya-refugees-facing-medical-crisis-bhasan-char">major deterrent</a>. Many refugee women often live in conservative environments where the use of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2021.100246">contraceptives</a> is frowned upon. Furthermore, pregnant refugee women are <a href="https://www.unicef.org/rosa/stories/ante-and-post-natal-care-ensure-health-rohingya-mothers-and-children">encouraged to stay at home by their families and not seek medical assistance due to superstition and fear</a>. </p>
<h2>What can Canada do for Rohingya women?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/myanmar.aspx?lang=eng">Canadian government’s response</a> to the Rohingya crisis focuses on alleviating the humanitarian crisis and encouraging positive political developments in Myanmar. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a woman with blond hair wearing a beige coat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502974/original/file-20230103-19747-b7g1y5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly announced Canada’s new Indo-Pacific Strategy in November 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This kind of a top-down approach focuses on assisting fragile states with political tools and financial resources to build political stability and prevent violence. But the risk with this approach is that persecuted communities remain at the bottom of the power hierarchy, where they continue to remain vulnerable. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2018/10/bottom-approach-foreign-aid/">bottom-up approach,</a> the focus is on ensuring healing for survivors and empowering them to access resources that aid in their social and psychological rehabilitation. </p>
<p>By applying a bottom-up approach, Canada should engage with local women’s and human rights organizations working with survivors who can also weigh in on post-conflict recovery.</p>
<p>There must be greater understanding of how race, ethnicity and gender relations contribute to women’s vulnerability during genocide and conflict. By addressing the crimes of sexual violence, Canada can work to bring survivors’ lived experience to the centre of humanitarian responses and help to prevent future abuses.</p>
<h2>Localize humanitarian responses</h2>
<p>Canadian policymakers and stakeholders need to understand and engage with historical identities, gender relations and survivors’ everyday lived experiences. </p>
<p>Localizing humanitarian engagements by partnering with grassroots organizations and community-led initiatives can help create healing and inclusive spaces for survivors of sexual violence.</p>
<p>This is a way Canada can ensure that survivors are protected and have access to the resources they need. </p>
<p>Canada needs to follow through on its commitment to combat <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/international_relations-relations_internationales/un-onu/statements-declarations/2020-07-17-VTC_conflict-conflits_visio.aspx?lang=eng">conflict-related sexual violence</a> and lead the international community in seeking justice for the Rohingya people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deeplina Banerjee 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.</span></em></p>Canada’s new Indo-Pacific strategy must include providing assistance to Rohingya women who have suffered sexual violence.Deeplina Banerjee, PhD Candidate, Gender, Sexuality and Women Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1938162022-12-07T16:43:27Z2022-12-07T16:43:27ZUsing art and song to help bring the world’s largest mangrove swamp back from the brink<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499290/original/file-20221206-13-jc80ii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C3687%2C2079&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the Sundarbans swamp, pneumatophores are upward growths of mangrove root systems that allow them to capture oxygen. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/pneumatophores-mangrove-forest-bed-green-moss-2130650117</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Located in the low-lying islands in the Bay of Bengal, the Sundarbans straddle the border between India and Bangladesh and cover more than 1 million hectares, making them the world’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ForestDepartmentWB/videos/1790418657976737">largest single contiguous mangrove swamp</a>. A <a href="https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/2370">Ramsar site</a> added to the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/798/">UNESCO World Heritage list</a> in 1987, they are home to a wide range of critically endangered fauna, including the Bengal tiger, the <a href="https://www.riverdolphins.org/river-dolphins-worldwide/ganges-river-dolphin/">Ganges dolphin</a>, river terrapin, the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python, along with approximately <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sunderbans-home-to-428-species-of-birds-records-zsi/article33651099.ece">428 species of birds</a>, 120 fish, 42 mammal, 35 reptile and 8 amphibian species. Having adapted to the saline estuarine conditions, more than 60 plant species can be found there.</p>
<p>Historically, cyclones have posed a greater threat in the Bay of Bengal than they do in the Arabian sea, to India’s west. Between 1891 and 2018, there were <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/coastal-concerns-rising-sea-levels-will-inundate-coastal-areas-sooner-than-projected-/articleshow/71985765.cms">520 cyclones in the Bay of Bengal</a>, compared to 126 in the Arabian Sea. On top of sucking up <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm:978-1-4020-4271-3/1.pdf">large amounts of greenhouse emissions</a>, mangroves also act as the first line of defence against flooding and erosion by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61136-6">lowering waves and storm surges</a>. Research has shown that mangrove swamps are capable of lessening the impacts of major storms and other natural phenomena, not only in the delta region but also in the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sunderbans-shield-protects-kolkata-from-bulbul-fury/story-jGL5lzL3kOHkeaoKmROwSN.html">nearby cities such as Kolkata</a>.</p>
<h2>Environmental degradation</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, mangrove swamps have suffered significant degradation due to human encroachment, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/the-big-story/story/20190930-massacre-of-the-mangroves-1600672-2019-09-20">illegal logging</a>, and seawater levels, which lead to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/01/22/increasing-salinity-in-a-changing-climate-likely-to-alter-sundarbans-ecosystem">increasing salinity of the surrounding areas</a>. Approximately <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/india-lost-40-of-its-mangroves-in-the-last-century-and-its-putting-communities-at-risk/article22999935.ece">40% of the mangrove cover in the Sundarbans has disappeared over the last 20 years</a>.</p>
<p>While several initiatives have been undertaken to <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/little-little-india-restores-its-lost-mangroves">replant mangroves</a>, especially on the inhabited islands, a range of natural and institutional vulnerabilities have left long stretches of riverbanks bare and nearby communities exposed to storms and other natural phenomena. Despite growing awareness, it was only after the deadly cyclones <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/27/india-bangladesh-cyclone-aila-168-dead">Aila</a> (2009) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/super-cyclone-amphan-evacuations-in-india-and-bangladesh-slowed-by-virus">Amphan</a> (2020) that communities realised the urgent need to restore an ecological balance and develop resilience. With the help of local activists, the communities have been able to achieve partial success, but they do require more encouragement and support to keep this going and inspire neighbouring communities to take it up as well.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499306/original/file-20221206-10480-wz1k2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As part of the work of their work, in 2018 the Living Waters Museum organised a ‘water varta’ exhibition intended to celebrate our tangible and intangible water heritage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.livingwatersmuseum.org/water-varta-exhibition">Living Waters Museum</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is at junctures like these where organisations like ours, the <a href="https://www.livingwatersmuseum.org/">Living Waters Museum</a>, play a crucial role in providing not only financial assistance but also leading capacity-building activities with youth. Established in 2017, we are a virtual repository exploring the multifaceted dimensions of water through the use of digital media, storytelling, music, theatre and other forms of art. At the forefront of such initiatives lies the project “Climate Wall”, a project created in association with <a href="https://in.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/kolkata/">US Consulate General Kolkata</a> and led by Sukrit Sen, which helps students understand their environment and its challenges. </p>
<p>As part of the project, a physical climate wall teaches young leaders about the different species of mangroves and helps them develop effective strategies for collecting and growing them in nurseries. Once their roots are long enough to withstand the tidal forces, the seedlings are finally planted on the riverbeds. The virtual wall uses creative arts such as paintings, dance, poetry and music as mediums to raise climate awareness and encourage community members to get involved in local governing bodies for water management.</p>
<h2>Building capacity</h2>
<p>The project is based in the Sundarbans village of Hingalganj, at the border between India and Bangladesh. There we are currently working with a local organisation called “Breathing Roots” to help schoolchildren learn about the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LivingWatersMuseum/videos/808792033837178">importance of mangroves as well as growing techniques</a> so that they can withstand tidal pressures. We also discuss ways that students can take action to help mitigate climate impacts and understand how our own lifestyles can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLxuDNpNHqE">contribute to climate change</a>. Workshops over the past year have involved media such as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LivingWatersMuseum/posts/pfbid0hz77QPWEd2c8mWpbCiDq6EC1H78dmMM9gspoonmFKFaedvfXfbH9fSmpLxyjyTekl">art</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfdeC87vQSF/">dance</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=486464183525920&set=pcb.486465976859074">poetry</a>. The last stage of this project will include another <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LivingWatersMuseum/posts/pfbid0cPXui4S3WKfemwCPin8LsiAqHd9MnC4UTPhiw8tsRYECN9GhTY2Gpa6oybHqkGb6l">round of tree planting</a> to reinforce the surrounding areas against future cyclones.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rs0aDpo2af8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Ujan Ganger’, a Bhatiyali song by Jasim Uddin and sung by Neena Hamid.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Apart from these, one of the main outcomes of this project will include a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnDmg-cBVsA"><em>Bhatiyali</em> song</a>, a genre of music believed to have originated with boatmen who would compose songs based on their long and lonely journeys and what they learned from their surroundings. <em>Bhatiyali</em> singers have thus been documenting climate change for much longer than conventional researchers, who coined the term <em>climate change</em> only in the late 1970s.</p>
<p>While this genre of music was long neglected by newer generations, the song being written will be composed and sung by our youth partners. The goal is that it will be able to serve as a local medium of interpretation and inspire future generations – they too have much to contribute to the scientific discourse of our current times.</p>
<p>The final outcomes of the “Climate Wall” project will be available toward mid-2023 on the <a href="https://www.livingwatersmuseum.org/">Living Waters Museum</a> portal.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Sukrit Sen of the Living Waters Museum helped contribute to this article.</em></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/next50/">50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention</a> (16 November 2022): World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Ahmed ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>On the border between India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans suffer from overexploitation and rising sea levels. With a “Climate Wall” project, a virtual museum is raising awareness and increasing resiliency.Sara Ahmed, Adjunct faculty, humanities and social sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) PuneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1866832022-07-29T12:22:56Z2022-07-29T12:22:56ZWhy men overwhelmingly wear the UN’s blue helmets – a former US ambassador explains why decades of recruiting women peacekeepers has had little effect<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475901/original/file-20220725-11-nocbix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C0%2C1036%2C688&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Female police officers working with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Liberia participate in a parade in 2008.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dam.media.un.org/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2AM94SKKB92P&SMLS=1&RW=1495&RH=648#/DamView&VBID=2AM94SKKBOX8&PN=1&WS=SearchResults">UN Photo/Christopher Herwig</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United Nations has about <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/where-we-operate">74,000 peacekeepers</a> in uniform stationed in a dozen conflict zones around the world. It’s easy to spot them in their signature light blue helmets. It’s harder to find a woman among them. </p>
<p>There are military experts, police and infantry units who come from <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/01_contributions_to_un_peacekeeping_operations_by_country_and_post_49_april_22.pdf">121 countries</a> to help maintain peace. </p>
<p><a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/07_gender_statistics_49_april_2022.pdf">Just 8%</a> of peacekeepers are women. </p>
<p>This is a significant increase from 15 years ago – when the number of peacekeepers was about the same as today but women made up only <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/dec07.pdf">about 2%</a> of the ranks. For 20 years, the U.N. has been <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/gender">trying to improve</a> this statistic. </p>
<p>But the U.N.’s long-term goal of having as many female peacekeepers as men may well be unachievable. </p>
<p>As a U.S. diplomat and an <a href="https://sia.psu.edu/faculty/jett">international affairs scholar</a>, I have been involved in peacekeeping in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. While dramatically increasing the number of female peacekeepers has clear benefits, including improved community relationships, the evolution of peacekeeping makes gender parity impossible. </p>
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<span class="caption">Namibia’s vice president inspects U.N. peacekeeping troops in Windhoek, Namibia, in 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/oct-31-2020-namibias-vice-president-nangolo-mbumba-inspects-troops-picture-id1229412837?s=2048x2048">Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua via Getty</a></span>
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<h2>What the UN calls for</h2>
<p>The U.N. does not have its own military. So when the U.N. launches a peacekeeping mission, it must ask its 193 member countries to provide the personnel necessary to staff it.</p>
<p>The U.N. pays countries a bit over <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/role-peacekeeping-africa">US$1,400 a month</a> for each soldier loaned to the organization. This can help poorer countries maintain <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2010/12/why-south-asia-loves-peacekeeping/">their armies and pay </a>their soldiers. Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Rwanda <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors">give the most</a> soldiers to serve as peacekeepers, with over 5,000 people each. The U.S. currently provides only <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/01_contributions_to_un_peacekeeping_operations_by_country_and_post_49_april_22.pdf">30 staff officers</a>. </p>
<p>In 2000, the U.N. Security Council recognized the gender imbalance in peacekeeping when it approved <a href="http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/1325">Resolution</a>1325, which urged that women be given more opportunities to serve. In 2018, the U.N. began specifically <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/uniformed-gender-parity-strategy-2018-2028-full-text">instructing</a> its peacekeeping missions to work toward including as many women as men. </p>
<p>Research shows that including women in resolving conflicts is a good idea, especially since they are frequently the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877825">victims of war</a> more often than men. When women participate in peace negotiations, the <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/03050629.2018.1492386?src=recsys#">resulting peace</a> is more lasting. </p>
<p>Having more female peacekeepers can also help improve <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/217455354?https://literature-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/lion?accountid=13158&parentSessionId=6Us3I5B86vHEja6PB%2BkbKN1ZPDOfkC8tDoSW0btbjUM%3D&pq-origsite=summon">relationships</a> with civilians. Open communication and trust between local communities and peacekeepers can lead to <a href="https://unu.edu/publications/articles/why-un-needs-more-female-peacekeepers.html">better cultural understanding and valuable intelligence</a> – including information about sexual violence that women are more likely to report to a female peacekeeper. </p>
<p>This is particularly important since in the past few years there have been <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/11/un-peacekeeping-has-sexual-abuse-problem">multiple cases</a> of peacekeepers being accused of <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/women-week-un-withdraws-450-peacekeepers-central-african-republic">mistreating and abusing </a>civilians – <a href="https://apnews.com/article/africa-arrests-united-nations-only-on-ap-e6ebc331460345c5abd4f57d77f535c1">including children</a>. </p>
<h2>Not so easy to achieve</h2>
<p>Despite the advantages, there are three major obstacles to getting more women involved in peacekeeping. </p>
<p>First, women make up a <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-countries-with-the-most-women-in-the-military/ar-AAOK9Ab">small percentage</a> of the armed forces in almost every country, ranging from less than 1% in India and Turkey to 20% in Hungary.</p>
<p>Second, very <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_combat">few countries</a> train women for ground combat, which may be part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission. </p>
<p>Third, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/01/25/map-which-countries-allow-women-in-front-line-combat-roles/">countries</a> that do train women for combat are almost always democratic and wealthier. They are also least likely to contribute troops to the more dangerous U.N. peacekeeping missions. </p>
<p>These practical challenges have become even more daunting because of the way peacekeeping has changed.</p>
<h2>Peacekeeping’s evolution</h2>
<p>The U.N. was only three years old when it initiated its <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/undof">first peacekeeping mission </a>in 1948 to respond to the war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. In that operation, and in subsequent ones dealing with conflicts between countries over territory, once the fighting stopped peacekeepers could be placed between the opposing armies to help ensure the cease-fire continued. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, peacekeeping also addressed civil wars in such places as <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/Unavem2/UnavemIIB.htm">Angola</a> and <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/onumozFT.htm">Mozambique</a>. Those operations had to demobilize former combatants, reintegrate them into civilian life and form a new national army. </p>
<p>Often the most important task was helping conduct an election. While I was the U.S. ambassador in <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/onumozS.htm">Mozambique in 1994</a>, all this was successfully accomplished and the peacekeepers went home. But this kind of peacekeeping is also mostly a relic of the past. </p>
<h2>A new broader mandate</h2>
<p>In the U.N.’s five most recent peacekeeping missions, launched between 2010 and 2014 and all in Africa, the peacekeepers are mandated to protect civilians and help the government expand its control to lessen the threat of armed rebel groups. Doing that requires large infantry units, which is why the <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/mali-suspends-rotation-of-un-forces/6659011.html">mission in Mali</a>, for example, includes 12,000 troops. </p>
<p>These are not just the largest missions, but also the most deadly – an average of 16 peacekeepers are killed each year in these missions, while an average of two peacekeepers die each year in the oldest peacekeeping operations. </p>
<p>The U.N. initially insisted that all warring parties agree to the presence of the peacekeepers and that the peacekeepers remain impartial and use force only to defend themselves.</p>
<p>In the five newest missions, the mandate required the use of force to be <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/where-we-operate">expanded</a>. This meant peacekeepers no longer had the consent of all the combatants and discarded impartiality to help the government in power. As a result, some of those opposing the government began targeting peacekeepers. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Soldiers are seen carrying coffins draped in blue flags, in front of a white UN plane." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475903/original/file-20220725-10216-rtsroy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ivorian soldiers carry the coffins of four U.N. peacekeepers in Mali in February 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/ivorian-soldiers-carry-coffins-wrapped-with-united-nations-flags-out-picture-id1230731222?s=2048x2048">Sia Kambou/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>The connection to female peacekeepers</h2>
<p>These latest peacekeeping missions require thousands of troops prepared for combat in order to be able to use force. For that reason, 86% of all of the peacekeepers are military troops, but only <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/07_gender_statistics_49_april_2022.pdf">6%</a> of the troops are women.</p>
<p>The low percentage of female troops stands in sharp contrast to the <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/07_gender_statistics_49_april_2022.pdf">other types of peacekeepers</a> who don’t risk being involved in combat – 27% of the military experts, 19% of the staff officers and 19% of the police are women. </p>
<p>While the wealthy countries pay <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/how-we-are-funded">86% of the financial cost</a> of U.N. peacekeeping, which amounts to $6.4 billion year, they contribute less than 8% of all the troops. </p>
<p>In the U.N.’s six oldest missions, like the ones in Israel, only 7% of the troops are women, and 37% of these women come from the rich countries. In the five more lethal missions, however, 5% of the troops are female and <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/07_gender_statistics_49_april_2022.pdf">only 3% </a> of them are from wealthier members.</p>
<p>So, while the rich countries pay in treasure, the poor countries pay in blood.</p>
<p>Getting more female peacekeepers would require countries to assign more women to the most dangerous peacekeeping missions. In other words, it would be necessary to give more women the chance to shed that blood.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Jett 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.</span></em></p>The UN has been working for 20 years to increase the number of female peacekeepers – but countries that give their troops to the UN are reluctant to put more women in active combat.Dennis Jett, Professor of International Affairs, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1827892022-05-12T11:55:16Z2022-05-12T11:55:16ZClimate change isn’t just making cyclones worse, it’s making the floods they cause worse too – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462546/original/file-20220511-21-msg9o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4320%2C2871&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People take refuge on a sports ground following flooding caused by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/46570320335">DFID/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Super cyclones, known as hurricanes or typhoons in different parts of the world, are among the most destructive weather events on our planet. </p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/weather/tropical-cyclones/facts">wind speeds</a> within these storms can reach 270 km/h, the largest loss of life comes from the flooding they cause – known as a “<a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/storms/storm-surge">storm surge</a>” – when sea water is pushed onto the coast. <a href="https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/">Climate change</a> is predicted to worsen these <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-storm-india/cyclone-kills-14-in-india-bangladesh-leaving-trail-of-destruction-idUSKBN22W0MT">floods</a>, swelling cyclone clouds with <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/101/3/bams-d-18-0194.1.xml#bib118">more water</a> and driving rising sea levels that allow storm surges to be blown further inland. </p>
<p>In May 2020, <a href="https://internal.imd.gov.in/press_release/20200614_pr_840.pdf">Super Cyclone Amphan</a> hit the India-Bangladesh border, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds and affecting more than 13 million citizens. The cyclone also caused storm surges of 2-4 metres, flooding coastal regions in the Bay of Bengal. </p>
<p>While over the ocean, this <a href="https://www.weather.gov/mfl/saffirsimpson">category five</a> storm – that’s a storm’s highest possible rating – became the strongest cyclone to have formed in the Bay of Bengal since 1999, reaching wind speeds of up to 260 km/h. Although it weakened to a <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/cyclone-amphan-highlights-value-of-multi-hazard-early-warnings">category two</a> storm following landfall, it remained the strongest cyclone to hit the Ganges Delta <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/cyclone-sidr-bangladesh-damage-loss-and-needs-assessment-disaster-recovery-and">since 2007</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1263178622963048449"}"></div></p>
<p>Amphan had <a href="https://theconversation.com/mental-health-distress-in-the-wake-of-bangladesh-cyclone-shows-the-devastation-of-climate-related-loss-and-damage-171712">severe consequences</a> for people, agriculture, the local economy and the environment. It tragically resulted in more than 120 deaths, as well as damaging or destroying homes and power grids: leaving <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52749935">millions</a> without electricity or communication in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. </p>
<p>Relief and aid efforts were <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/22/weather/cyclone-amphan-damage-intl-hnk/index.html">hampered</a> by flood damage to roads and bridges, as well as by coronavirus restrictions. <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/72-killed-in-amphans-march-through-bengal-pm-modi-to-visit-today/articleshow/75878314.cms">Large areas of crops</a> including rice, sesame and mangos were damaged, and fertile soils were either washed away or contaminated by saline sea water. Overall, Super Cyclone Amphan was the costliest event ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, resulting in over <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-storm-india-idUSKBN22Z0HE">$13 billion</a> (£10 billion) of damage.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people assess a tree that has fallen across a road" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462547/original/file-20220511-14-3ajmsj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Kolkata, India, Super Cyclone Amphan caused widespread damage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Post_Cyclone_Amphan_situation_of_Shyambazar_in_Kolkata_30.jpg">Indrajit Das/Wikimedia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cli2.36">recent study</a> led by the University of Bristol and drawing on research from Bangladesh and France, we’ve investigated how the effects of storm surges like that caused by Amphan on the populations of India and Bangladesh might change under different future climate and population scenarios.</p>
<h2>Amphan: Mark II</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate-change/organisations-and-reports/past-and-future-sea-level-rise">Rising sea levels</a> – thanks largely to melting glaciers and ice sheets – appear to be behind the greatest uptick in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12855">future risk</a> from cyclone flooding, since they allow storm surges to reach further inland. It’s therefore key to understand and predict how higher sea levels might exacerbate storm-driven flooding, in order to minimise loss and damage in coastal regions.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/storm-surge-this-misunderstood-threat-can-be-every-bit-as-deadly-as-a-tsunami-116453">Storm surge: this misunderstood threat can be every bit as deadly as a tsunami</a>
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<p>Our research used climate models from <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/cmip6-the-next-generation-of-climate-models-explained">CMIP6</a>, the latest in a series of projects aiming to improve our understanding of climate by comparing simulations produced by different modelling groups around the world. First we modelled future sea-level rise according to different future emissions scenarios, then we added that data to storm surge estimates taken from a model of Super Cyclone Amphan. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1262759921529094144"}"></div></p>
<p>We ran <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-high-emissions-rcp8-5-global-warming-scenario">three scenarios</a>: a low emission scenario, a business-as-usual scenario and a high emission scenario. And in addition to modelling sea-level rise, we also estimated future populations across India and Bangladesh to assess how many more people storm surges could affect. In most cases, we found that populations are likely to rise: especially in urban areas.</p>
<p>Our findings were clear: exposure to flooding from cyclone storm surges is extremely likely to increase. In India, exposure increase ranged from 50-90% for the lowest emission scenario, to a 250% increase for the highest emission scenario. In Bangladesh, we found a 0-20% exposure increase for the lowest emission scenario and a 60-70% increase for the highest emission scenario. The difference in exposure between the two countries is mostly due to declining coastal populations as a result of urban migration inland. </p>
<p>Imagine we’re now in 2100. Even in a scenario where we’ve managed to keep global emissions relatively low, the local population exposed to storm surge flooding from an event like Amphan will have jumped by ~350,000. Compare this to a high emission scenario, where an extra 1.35 million people will now be exposed to flooding. And for flood depths of over one metre – a depth that poses immediate danger to life – almost half a million more people will be exposed to storm surge flooding in a high emission scenario, compared to a low emission scenario.</p>
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<img alt="A composite satellite image of a large white cyclone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462548/original/file-20220511-18-fu80ay.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A satellite image shows Amphan approaching the coasts of India and Bangladesh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tropical_Cyclone_Amphan_approaching_the_coasts_of_India_and_Bangladesh_-_May_20th,_2020_(49915736373).jpg">Pierre Markuse/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>This research provides yet more support for rapidly and permanently reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-breakdown-even-if-we-miss-the-1-5-c-target-we-must-still-fight-to-prevent-every-single-increment-of-warming-178581">Climate breakdown: even if we miss the 1.5°C target we must still fight to prevent every single increment of warming</a>
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<p>Although we’ve focused on storm surge flooding, other cyclone-related <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-heatwave-why-the-region-should-prepare-for-even-more-extreme-heat-in-the-near-future-182452">hazards</a> are also projected to worsen, including <a href="https://www.preventionweb.net/news/stark-warning-new-research-identifies-deadly-hidden-weather-hazard-has-potential-affect">deadly heatwaves</a> following cyclones hitting land. And in the case of Amphan, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901121001969">interplay</a> between climate change and coronavirus likely made the situation for people on the ground far worse. As the world warms, we mustn’t avoid the reality that pandemics and other climate-related crises are only forecast to <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/climate-change-indicators-and-impacts-worsened-2020">increase</a>.</p>
<p>Urgent action on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-measuring-emissions-in-real-time-can-help-cities-achieve-net-zero-172651">emissions</a> is vital to protect highly <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/most-vulnerable-countries-leading-climate-response">climate-vulnerable countries</a> from the fatal effects of extreme weather. Amphan Mark II need not be as destructive as we’ve projected if the world’s governments act now to meet <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> climate goals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurence Hawker receives funding from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dann Mitchell receives funding from NERC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Lord received funding from NERC. </span></em></p>Rising populations and a warming climate mean storm surges from super cyclones are likely to affect increasing numbers of vulnerable people.Laurence Hawker, Senior Research Associate in Geography, University of BristolDann Mitchell, Professor of Climate Science, University of BristolNatalie Lord, Honorary Research Associate in Climate Science, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813652022-05-10T12:57:55Z2022-05-10T12:57:55ZLessons for Ukraine from the Rohingya crisis: even sympathetic communities can lose their enthusiasm for hosting refugees<p>Countries in Europe have opened their borders and homes to Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression. Of course, Ukrainians are far from the first group of refugees to need shelter and welcome from host countries. </p>
<p>Refugees are vulnerable people who, because of limited opportunities in refugee camps, can be exposed to human trafficking, criminal activities, drug peddling, prostitution and radicalisation. There have already been concerns that Ukrainian refugees are being targeted for human or <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60891801">sex trafficking by organised groups</a> and <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7134710a-b77f-11ec-8c29-375fe0cc1f19?shareToken=a837eb8dee7da17e5e08bdb7ae0d5761">individuals</a>. </p>
<p>But a refugee crisis doesn’t simply end with placing vulnerable, often traumatised people in congested camps or even family homes. As conflicts continue and global priorities change, even the most sympathetic communities can lose their enthusiasm for hosting.</p>
<p>Bangladesh, a highly populated country with its own challenges and resource constraints, has become in the last five years <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/flagship-reports/globaltrends/">one of the leading countries</a> hosting displaced people. Over one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar entered Bangladesh in 2017, living mainly in makeshift camps located in Ukhiya and Teknaf, two areas in the Cox’s Bazar district.</p>
<p>In the early days, Bangladeshi communities were <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/bangladesh-refugee-emergency-factsheet-host-community-projects-november-2018">lauded</a> for their response to the influx of Rohingya refugees, providing <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/politics/bnp-chairperson-khaleda-zia-en-route-distribute-rohingya-refugees-relief-1483825">lifesaving assistance</a> before the state, nongovernmental organisations and the international community. </p>
<p>The Bangladeshi government has been <a href="https://rrrc.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/rrrc.portal.gov.bd/monthly_report/c49ba570_c241_45ae_82ef_9184b4d81ca8/2020-09-06-11-58-df91ef0404cd980f76a046c9f239838d.pdf">working with</a> various humanitarian actors to ensure that various essential needs such as food, shelter, cooking materials, healthcare, and education are met in camps. </p>
<p>But any positive camp conditions are overshadowed by government policies that restrict the Rohingyas’ <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/04/bangladesh-new-restrictions-rohingya-camps">movement</a> and <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/few-rights-and-little-progress-rohingya-bangladesh#:%7E:text=Yet%20the%20Rohingya%20have%20few,these%20rights%20any%20time%20soon">right to work</a>. What’s more, in 2019 <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/24/bangladesh-defends-use-of-fences-after-deadly-rohingya-camp-fire#:%7E:text=Bangladesh%20has%20defended%20the%20use,dead%20and%20nearly%2045%2C000%20homeless.">barbed wire</a> was erected around the camps. </p>
<p>Although host communities were initially highly compassionate and supportive, recently there has been tension. The situation is an example of how sympathetic communities can become frustrated, angry or even <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54082201">hostile</a> over time. We believe this can offer some important insights into how the Ukrainian refugee crisis could play out if the enthusiasm and resources dry up in coming months.</p>
<h2>Growing tensions</h2>
<p>We interviewed 20 members of the host community and 20 Bangladeshi humanitarian workers, who described a decline in sympathy towards the Rohingyas. The findings surprised us and may not be representative of the entire Rohingya population living in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>We interviewed Rohingya refugees for a <a href="https://uswvarious1.blob.core.windows.net/uswvarious-prod-uploads/documents/Bangladesh_Report_Master_Copy_Feb_2022.pdf">previous study</a>, and found that they felt extremely grateful to the Bangladeshi hosts for their hospitality. But, host communities’ increasingly negative perception of Rohingya refugees threatens their peaceful coexistence. As one humanitarian worker said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many local people had to abandon their houses and land that are now located inside the Rohingya camps. After the settlement of Rohingyas in the camps, when [locals] tried to access or use their lands again, they were regularly countered by the Rohingyas who are very compact as a group. People [locals] once welcomed are now quite aggressive towards them, [which has] resulted in <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/bangladesh-violent-incidents-rohingya-refugee-settlements-dg-echo-ngos-echo-daily">violent clashes</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There have been many allegations levelled against the Rohingyas, including that they are involved in <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/they-tried-infiltrate-rohingya-camps-cttc-2119481">radical extremist activities</a> and pose <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/world/south-asia/india/rohingyas-threat-natl-security-1462546">security threats</a>. Bangladesh’s prime minister has openly called the Rohingyas a “<a href="https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Prime-Minister-Hasina-says-Rohingya-are-a-burden-for-Bangladesh-48060.html">burden</a>”.</p>
<p>Rohingyas in Bangladeshi camps have been lured by criminal gangs and human traffickers and become involved in various <a href="https://theconversation.com/rohingya-refugees-focusing-only-on-their-return-home-ignores-the-crime-and-health-crises-in-bangladeshs-camps-118557">criminal activities and drug peddling</a>. One community leader cited this as a factor behind the recent contempt, saying they are taking part in “evil deeds”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rohingya-refugees-focusing-only-on-their-return-home-ignores-the-crime-and-health-crises-in-bangladeshs-camps-118557">Rohingya refugees: focusing only on their return home ignores the crime and health crises in Bangladesh's camps</a>
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<p>Bangladesh officially <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/city/forcibly-displaced-myanmar-nationals-1469374">recognises</a> the Rohingyas as “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals” instead of refugees, which prevents them from be able to work. Recent evidence suggests that as a result of this, many Rohingyas have resorted to petty crimes and theft. As one humanitarian worker told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Previously, there were very few incidents but now, these are frequent. Every night something is being stolen from the houses of the local community. Also, thousands of humanitarian workers live here and usually possess mobile phones, laptops, or other electronic items. Their houses are also targets for theft.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Lessons for Ukrainian refugees and their hosts</h2>
<p>Like early days of the current Rohingya crisis, there has been a certain amount of <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c2a2a7e6-9d46-4178-ae25-3fa978250161">positivity and enthusiasm</a> about hosting Ukrainian refugees. However, there might also be some early <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60731369">signs of exhaustion</a> and a tinge of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/ukraine-refugees-russia-invasion-b2027107.html">scepticism</a>, as we have observed in Bangladesh.</p>
<p>If a crisis is dealt with on an ad-hoc basis and not addressed as a long-term issue, refugees may turn to alternative risky opportunities which might put them in harm’s way. As we have seen in Bangladesh, this could jeopardise the whole objective of supporting the refugees. There are concerns about resource availability that would be required to host the <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">large number of Ukrainian refugees</a>. Already, there is evidence that some Ukrainians may be <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61311046">taken advantage of</a> through the systems designed to help them.</p>
<p>It is important to have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-refugees-six-practical-steps-to-rise-to-the-challenge-179792">longer-term plan</a> for jobs, safety and healthcare among the hosting governments, EU, UN bodies and civil society organisations that are actively involved in hosting the Ukrainian refugees, so the situation does not follow the precedent set in Bangladesh.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Palash Kamruzzaman receives funding from the British Academy, UniversitiesWales. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bulbul Siddiqi 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.</span></em></p>The situation in refugee camps in Bangladesh may offer some lessons for communities hosting Ukrainian refugees.Palash Kamruzzaman, Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, University of South WalesBulbul Siddiqi, Associate Professor in Anthropology and Sociology, North South UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.