Drop in humanitarian aid leaves Arakan State IDPs struggling to get by

17 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
17 February 2022, Sittwe

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State are facing food and shelter shortages due to a lack of aid from local nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), civil society organisations and charity groups.

In previous years, NGOs and Arakan civil society organisations came to the state’s IDP camps to provide basic necessities such as rice and other food supplies, cooking oil, and clothing, but now many of these groups are no longer providing assistance to the displacement camps, camp officials told DMG.

“In the past, civil society organisations and NGOs provided relief supplies to IDP camps in Arakan State. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement now provides a bit of rice to IDPs daily. Some IDPs earn a living by cutting and selling firewood. IDP grandparents who are unable to work face many difficulties,” said U Thein Win, manager of Zedipyin displacement camp in Rathedaung Township.

The Zedipyin camp is home to more than 1,000 IDPs from Yaysoe Chaung, Amyet Taung, Manyin Taung, Saut Khat and Htee Swel villages, on the east bank of the Mayu River in Rathedaung Township.

U Maung Tun Myint from Sein Pya IDP camp in Kyauktaw Township’s Myothit ward, told DMG that the current lack of support from civil society organisations in the displacement camps has made it harder for IDPs to make ends meet.

“When we arrived at the camp, CSOs and charities provided us with relief items. Now no civil society group is coming to the IDP camp. The government provides rice to IDPs, while WFP [World Food Programme] supports K15,000 a month per IDP. But people also face many difficulties due to the high cost of living and the scarcity of jobs,” he said.

IDPs are urging donor organisations to provide any assistance they can amid the dwindling of aid in recent months. Civil society organisations and aid workers attribute the drop in aid to IDPs to a slowdown in the country’s economy, as well as a drop in domestic and foreign donations.

“We have seen a decrease in the number of charitable organisations in Arakan State providing assistance to displacement camps. We did not go to IDP camps because of a lack of local and foreign donations to help displaced people,” Ko Ann Thar Gyi, chairman of the Thingaha Kan Lat Rakkhita charitable group, told DMG.

More than 100,000 IDPs in Arakan State have returned home since fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army ceased in November 2020, but tens of thousands more remain in displacement camps.