Story of Mohammad Salim
Working to protect tenure security in the Geneva Refuge Camp
Mohammad Salim lives in the Geneva Refugee Camp in Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a Bihari, his family has lived in the camp since 1971. He shares an 8 by 10 feet room with his wife and daughter. The rooms are separated by two feet wide passageways shared by residents, goats, and chickens.
With over five thousand camp residents, it is common for three generations to share a room. In many of the refugee camps in Dhaka, the building structures are weak and crumbling. When it rains, the camp toilets flood the streets. The walls and stairways expose rusted steel and rotting concrete with frayed electrical wires hanging above.
To help upgrade the conditions of the camp and prevent the eviction of the residents, the Bangladeshi NGO Council on Minorities worked with camp community leaders and used tools, training, and a grant from Cadasta Foundation to conduct a household survey in order to collect geographic information and establish a demographic profile of the community. The survey collected population information, housing investments and quality, feelings of tenure security/insecurity, and ideas for their long-term rehabilitation from all residents in the camp.
Commenting on the data collection process, Mohammad said, “With the comprehensive camp data, we know more about our camp population and family information. This is the first time we came to know population data of the Geneva Camp with the support of Cadasta.”
Council of Minorities’ survey also includes a mapping component that links the household data to house location, as well as identifies block structure and the location of current communal infrastructure such as water taps and toilets to make a rehabilitation plan for the camp dwellers.
“We can use this data to demand a rehabilitation process with the government and with NGOs,” said Mohammad, “We camp dwellers are demanding our proper rehabilitation and for that we need data, now we can use data and start working on a rehabilitation project.”
The Geneva Refugee Camp is situated on private land owned by the Liyaqat Housing Society, which has filed a petition to the Bangladesh High Court to evict the camp residents. With the data collected by Cadasta and Council of Minorities, the camp residents hope to have a better chance of defending their property claims and fight eviction. Mohammad explains, “We the camp residents do not have any land documents or rights because in 1972 the Red Cross built this camp for the Biharis who lost their housing and property in the 1971 War of Liberation. Since 1972, we have been living in this camp. My daughter and I were born in this camp. We are very worried about our land. Everyday we live in the fear of camp eviction. Our biggest hope is rehabilitation, which is most important because camp life is very painful and unhealthy. We need adequate housing and rehabilitation. Lastly, I want to say thanks to Cadasta and Council of Minorities for providing us with such important and useful data.”
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