The Cox’s Bazar district, with a total Bangladeshi population of 2,650,000, is one of the country’s poorest districts (ISCG, 2020, p. 29). Poverty levels are well above the national average and there are reports that many locals survive on just one meal a day.18 The Rohingya influx directly impacted the food security of the local population, as many lost access to farming land and forests. Many locals now compete with the refugees for work opportunities, with their arrival having driven down day-labour wages in Teknaf and Ukhiya by 11 percent and 17 percent, respectively (Ibid., p. 31). The refugee crisis has also negatively impacted the environment due to considerable deforestation and host communities are concerned about the perceived deterioration of security. Drug trafficking from Myanmar through Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar and the region’s markets has been increasing in recent years, and human trafficking both inside and outside the camp areas remains an ongoing issue (Ibid.; field notes from 13 January 2020). Road congestion and the deterioration of public services have also further strained the relationship between locals and the refugees (ISCG, 2020, p. 30).
According to ISCG, the host communities do not believe that they have benefitted from the humanitarian response and criticize the humanitarian community for overlooking their most urgent needs (Ibid., p. 58). However, some respondents argued that these complaints were not always justified, when, for example, they came from locals with good jobs, sufficient food to feed their family and houses with decent sanitation facilities.19 Some Bangladeshi locals have benefitted from the refugee response, for example, through employment in humanitarian organizations or local businesses, which have profited from the large United Nations and NGO presence in the district (Wake and Bryant, 2018, p. 9). Moreover, the Government requires 30 per cent of all humanitarian funding to be spent on the host community. Overall, measuring the concrete impact of the United Nations and NGO presence on the local economy is difficult and enhanced assistance and services for particularly vulnerable and marginalized groups in the host communities are needed to mitigate protection risks and inter-community tensions (ISCG, 2020, p. 58).