Cox’s Bazaar: Arakanese urban refugees sheltered in Bangladesh, staged a protest on Sunday, outside the UNHCR office in southern Bangladesh's Cox's Bazaar district, for alleged discrimination against the refugees.
 
"We are now in great trouble, because the UNHCR has stopped not only our subsistence allowances, but also assistance for medical treatment and children's education," Phoe Hla, an urban refugee said.
 
He added that the urban refugees were not only being discriminated against particularly in relation to resettlement in third countries, but were also facing neglect in terms of aid by the UNHCR.
 
More than 200 Arakanese pro-democracy activists, who fled persecution by the Burmese military regime, are recognized as refugees by the UNHCR in Bangladesh, according to the community. The UNHCR officials in Dhaka, was unavailable for comment on the issue.
 
"I am unable to send my only child to school, because the UNHCR has halved the monthly educational assistance of Taka 1200 for her," Ma Fru Chay, a widowed refugee with a daughter said. Taka 1200 is approximately equivalent to 17.65 US dollars.
 
She added that she has had great difficulty providing food and shelter for her family, due to the slashing in UNHCR assistance.
 
Most refugee parents have been unable to send their children to school, since the UNHCR stopped their monthly subsistence allowances. The allowances were cut after they implemented a self-reliance business project, that involved an average lump sum payment of Taka 15,000, or 220 USD, for each member of the family, said the refugees.
 
They said that the self-reliance projects failed shortly after implementation, due to local competition and discrimination against the Burmese people.
 
"The UNHCR never listens to what the refugees have to say. It operates according to its own plans and targets, without practical assessment of the refugees' situations," Khaing Pray Thein, another refugee said.
 
He added that, "There is a great communication gap between the UNHCR and the refugees. The UNHCR never tries to protect the refugees who are vulnerable, and are struggling for their livelihood in remote rural areas. It usually delays its response or action, in cases regarding health and protection, even though they receive adequate notice from the refugees."
 
According to the refugees, an UNHCR recognized urban refugee named Min Wa died in custody in Chittagong Jail last year, after the UNHCR failed to step in and protect him in keeping with their role.
 
Most of the refugees would prefer to be resettled in a third country, so they can rebuild their lives, because they cannot return to their homes and find it increasingly difficult to live in Bangladesh.
 
"The UNHCR should arrange for resettlement for us. It should consider how we have to take risks while living here. We are suffering in every aspect of our lives. We have nothing except the hope of being resettled in a country, where our rights are secure, for rebuilding our future," a refugee said.
 
They added that some western countries had expressed sympathy in offering resettlement for the urban refugees, but the UNHCR has rejected their offer on grounds of preventing exodus of more Arakanese refugees from Burma.
 
"More than 50 Arakanese had fled persecution after the Burmese junta cracked down after the Saffron Revolution protests in September 2007, and they have sought asylum here, but most of them have been rejected by the UNHCR, on the ground that they do not meet the refugee status determination criteria," U Khaemida, a Buddhist monk, who has recently been registered as an urban refugee said.
 
He said that the newly recognized refugees and asylum-seekers were suffering due to the lack of UNHCR assistance.
 
"Short-cut solutions of the UNHCR have made the plight of urban refugees worse," he said.