Distribution of a device called the “rape alarm” among the women in Rohingya camps of Teknaf by a local NGO has drawn attention of concerned circles while the officials concerned categorically said they had no idea about this.
Local sources said the NGO Moonlight Development Society distributed the device at Chakmarkul’s Keruntoli Refugee Camp under Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar district to save the Rohingya women from ‘unwanted sexual advances’.
When contacted, Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzamn Khan Kamal told The New Nation last night, “I don’t know why that NGO had distributed such a device.”
Do you think the Rohingya women are vulnerable to sexual harassment or rape in the camps, the Minister said, adding: “We’ve taken enough protective measures for the women and girls in the camps… I can say all sorts of protections have been ensured for them.”
The device would give off a high-pitched ambulance wail at the press of a button and the NGO distributed 175 such devices among women aged between 12 and 25.
According to media reports, Moonlight Development Society project coordinator Mohammed Anik said that the device could be useful for children and women, who are vulnerable for attacks in the camps.
“The girls are really vulnerable. We have been trying to come up with something that is cheap and could at least be of help for the time being. Then we designed the battery-run device which is also a torch,” Anik said as quoted by the media.
In this backdrop, Cox’s Bazar district’s Additional Superintendent of Police Md Afrazul Haque told The New Nation over phone on Sunday night that they have no idea about distribution of “rape alarm” devices among the Rohingya women.
“There is no police record of rape incidents or sexual assaults on women in the Rohingya temporary camps. So far we know, the situation in the camps is quite normal,” he said.
Echoing the same, Cox’s Bazar Additional District Magistrate Khaled Mahmud said last night that the district administration was not aware of such distribution of devices among the Rohingya women.
“Actually, we’ve no idea about this. Why an NGO will distribute such devices? We’ve no information about rape or sexual harassment on women in the Rohingya camps, “he said.
It was learnt that Moonlight Development Society, a non-profit organization, was founded by a number of enthusiastic youths from Bogra.
In fact, rape was one of the ways that the Myanmar military conducted their ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. Many of the women had suffered at the hands of six or seven perpetrators. And it was violent: many also had been stabbed, shot, or brutally beaten.
Council on Foreign Relations in its report said though humanitarian organizations are doing their best to meet basic minimum standards for prevention of sexual violence, the poorly structured refugee camps, with their limited oversight, lack of lighting at night, and proximity from a main road can be breeding grounds for chaos.
