Humanitarian need for Rohingya refugees and the host community in Cox’s Bazar, home to the world’s largest refugee camp, is daunting. While Bangladesh should be commended for its generosity in opening its borders to Rohingya refugees, accelerated efforts are required to support the over 1.2 million people in need of humanitarian and development assistance. Simultaneously, further pressure is needed from the international community and regional actors on the Government of Myanmar (GoM) to create conditions in Rakhine conducive to the safe, voluntary and sustainable return of the Rohingya. Building on new research from the International Rescue Committee on positive market conditions in Cox’s Bazar, this brief highlights the untapped potential of livelihoods programming to increase self-reliance and economic empowerment for affected communities. It concludes with recommendations to the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and key actors engaged with the crisis to support refugees and locals, and women in particular, to rebuild their lives and livelihoods and take back control of their future.

The IRC collaborated with illustrator Paul Blow to depict the journeys of people making it along the Central Mediterranean Route.

Mid-December 2022, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) published its annual Emergency Watchlist, identifying the 20 countries in the world most at risk to face a severe humanitarian crisis or a deterioration of an ongoing humanitarian crisis in 2023. Once again, our unique methodology based on 67 indicators and discussions with key stakeholders in the region, concluded that the situations in 5 West African countries are of high concern. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria are all countries where conflict, climate change, and economic turmoil impact the lives of millions of people and limits their access to quality health, education, and protection services, food, and sometimes, even to benefit from humanitarian assistance. These countries need the world’s attention to help displaced and host populations survive, recover, and rebuild their lives. This report aims to dive into these contexts and unpack the accelerators of the humanitarian crisis to then better identify the guardrails that decision makers need to rebuild so people can move from harm to home.