Rohingya Muslim women 'being driven to prostitution to buy supplies' in Bangladesh refugee camps

As Rohingya women struggle to access even the very basics such as food and water in Bangladesh's overcrowded camps, a flourishing sex trade offers cash in times of desperation. Four women entered the clean-swept mud hut, took off their black shawls and sat cross-legged on the floor. When asked if they sold sex, the women stirred uncomfortably and were silent. Later, after cups of tea, the question came up again. The women caught each other's eyes. Slowly one of them walked across the room to shut the door, another blocked the window. Darkness fell in the small, humid hut and voices turned to whispers. “If anyone finds out what we do, they will kill us,” murmured 26-year-old Romida. More than 600,000 ethnic Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Burma, have fled attacks by the Burma army since late August, fleeing across to border to southern Bangladesh in the world's fastest growing refugee crisis. In Kutupalong, the biggest camp, the sex industry is thriving. Many of the sex workers are longer term residents of the Bangladeshi camps, but the influx of tens of thousands more vulnerable women and girls is expected to fuel the trade. “At least 500 Rohingya prostitutes live in Kutupalong,” said Noor, who works as a fixer, but many have lived for years in the camp which was established in 1992. “Recruiters now have their eyes set on the newcomers,” she added. UN agencies say they have no figures on the numbers of sex workers in the camps to make public. “It's hard to come by numbers and we don't collect data on how many sex workers are in the camps,” Saba Zariv, an expert on gender-based violence at the UN's population agency UNFPA told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. A recent report from UNICEF, the UN children's fund, UNICEF report said that in the chaotic, unorganised camps, children and youths could fall prey to traffickers and people looking to exploit and manipulate them. From tight-knit conservative Muslim communities, the Rohingya often turn a blind eye to prostitution. “People pretend that it doesn't exist,” said Noor. “The girls meet their Bangladeshi clients outside the camps. They don't sleep with other Rohingya. Our communities are tight and rumours could spread easily. Each girl wants to appear pure.” Many of the prostitutes are children who eat no more than one meal a day and don't attend school. They work secretively without even their parents knowing. Rena, 18, who has lived in the camp for the past decade was forced to marry an alcoholic two years ago. “He mistreated me and beat me,” she said. Her abusive husband ran left her when she gave birth to her first son. Feeding her child became impossible. “That's when I decided to become a sex worker. I was only 16, but it was out of desperation. I needed money.” Fourteen-year-old Kamru, who also sells sex, arrived years ago in a previous wave of Rohingya refugees. She has never been able to attend school because her family is too poor. “The camp is all I remember. I grew up here, but I was always hungry,” said the teenager, who like all the women and girls did not want to reveal her full name. Sex workers share common traits: poverty, abusive family members and lack of funds make them vulnerable enough to be trafficked into the camp's sex industry.