Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan (Rakhine) State living outside camps are facing severe livelihood challenges due to lack of access to aid.
Organized by the United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the Arakan Army (AA), the IDPs are residing in refugee camps, village monasteries, schools, and other available shelters, while some rent homes in safer areas.
This winter, IDPs living outside camps face a greater need for aid, including food and warm clothing, than those in camps.
“IDPs outside the camps get very little aid compared to those inside. A few can rent houses, but most of us live in makeshift tents. When winter comes, we desperately need warm clothes, and food. When we fled, we brought some gold and valuables, but now we’ve had to sell everything just to buy food, and it’s all gone,” said U Nyi Nyi, an IDP currently sheltering in a village in Kyauktaw Township.
IDPs outside camps are addressing their housing needs by setting up temporary tents on vacant land, renting homes, and seeking shelter in monasteries and schools.
Most IDPs earn a living through physically demanding work including laboring as coolies and plantation work, day labor, vending, and motorcycle taxi services.
However, these jobs are exhausting and pay very little, leaving families struggling to send their children to school due to the gap between their income and expenses, lamented an IDP woman in Kyauktaw Township.
“It’s been years since we’ve received any aid. We can’t afford school fees or even buy books and supplies for our children. Work is so scarce that I sell food in the market, but I’m still struggling just to make ends meet for my family. I want to appeal for aid to be provided to the IDPs and children in the camps,” she told DMG.
In addition to the lack of jobs and high prices, IDPs said that limited access to healthcare is another major challenge they face.
Aid groups also explained that IDPs face severe livelihood struggles due to limited access to assistance while being forced to take refuge in unfamiliar areas.
“IDPs face many difficulties when they have to live in unfamiliar places. They struggle with everything from education to healthcare. And now that winter is here, the need for blankets and warm clothes is even greater,” said Ko Myo Kyaw Htoo, Human Resources Officer of the Ahpaukwa Youth Association (AYA) in Kyauktaw Township.
Arakan State, a coastal region in far-west Myanmar, is home to 600,000 war-displaced people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
Since late 2023, when the Arakan Army began its operations to capture towns, the junta has blocked all international aid groups, including United Nations (UN) agencies, from delivering humanitarian assistance to Arakan State.
