HRW calls for action on camp landslides

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Bangladesh government, the United Nations and international donors to take urgent steps to reduce disaster risks in Rohingya refugee camps after deadly landslides killed at least 17 refugees and displaced thousands during this month’s monsoon rains.

In a statement released on Monday, the New York based rights organisation said the recent landslides exposed the severe vulnerability of more than one million Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar, where makeshift shelters stand on steep, deforested hillsides highly prone to collapse during heavy rainfall.

HRW said at least 17 people were killed and more than 3,000 others displaced in the July landslides, warning that such tragedies were becoming increasingly predictable because of overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure and shrinking humanitarian funding.

“Every monsoon is becoming increasingly deadly for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with denuded hills sliding away under makeshift structures, as the funding to buttress the camps has dried up,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.

“These are not simply natural disasters, but a predictable outcome of policies that put refugees’ lives at risk,” she added.

According to the Rohingya Coordination Platform, between July 4 and July 9 there were 286 weather related incidents across the refugee camps, affecting more than 26,000 refugees.

The incidents included 95 landslides that displaced 4,307 people, partially damaged 2,809 shelters and completely destroyed 13 others.

The heavy rains also damaged learning centres, roads, bridges, retaining walls, drainage systems, stairways and water and sanitation facilities, further disrupting humanitarian operations.

Bangladesh authorities have relocated more than 1,000 refugees from high risk areas, although many families have been reluctant to leave their homes because of the shortage of alternative shelter.

Human Rights Watch interviewed five affected Rohingya refugees and four humanitarian workers who said the camps’ original layout and limited drainage systems had significantly increased the risk of landslides.

One water and sanitation engineer told the organisation that the camps had initially been established by cutting hillsides without proper drainage planning.
He said funding cuts had prevented sustainable slope protection work, while restrictions on permanent construction had further complicated efforts to improve safety.

HRW also warned that newly arrived refugees from Myanmar faced even greater danger because they were often unable to obtain formal shelters and instead settled in unsafe locations.

The organisation cited the case of a Rohingya refugee who arrived in Bangladesh in August 2024 and lost two daughters and two grandchildren when a hillside collapsed onto their makeshift shelter on July 6.

Since renewed fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army in November 2023, at least 152,000 additional Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh, according to figures available up to May this year.

HRW said the existing humanitarian response had been planned for around 50,000 new arrivals, leaving aid agencies struggling to cope with three times that number.

The rights group noted that Bangladesh has yet to approve a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees request for additional land to accommodate the growing refugee population.

As a result, new arrivals continue to be squeezed into the existing 24 square kilometres allocated for the camps.

Aid workers told HRW that emergency relocation was also hampered by limited space, while temporary shelters such as learning centres often lacked privacy and adequate sanitation facilities.

The organisation acknowledged that Bangladesh approved stronger temporary shelters and several semi permanent shelter designs in late 2024, including plans to rebuild 50,000 shelters.

However, the body said those initiatives stalled after humanitarian funding cuts announced in January 2025.

HRW said the Shelter and Camp Coordination appeal was currently only 42 per cent funded, leaving a funding gap of US$73.9 million, while the disaster risk management plan still required an additional US$23.2 million.

The rights group urged donor governments to restore funding for slope stabilisation, drainage systems, embankments, access roads and safer shelters, while calling on Bangladesh to continue allowing disaster resistant shelter designs and safe relocation sites.

“Rohingya refugees won’t benefit from further hand wringing, but by an urgent and effective response,” Ganguly said. “Concerned governments need to act instead of waiting for the next landslide to sweep away another Rohingya family.”