Should we expect climate-change refugees from Bangladesh?

Published : 28 Sept 2015, 12:43 PM
Updated : 28 Sept 2015, 12:43 PM

Bangladesh is one of those places where climate change has made itself evident. In the delta land bathed by the Bay of Bengal, ever increasing stretches of land slowly disappear under the water. Bangladeshis are constantly trying to flee from the claws of poverty, the fear of terrorism and the consequences of climate change. Will climate-change refugees end up in Germany and other developed countries?

September 21, 2015. A few kilometres away from the capital city of Dhaka, it is a normal morning on the banks of the river Bongshi, one of the many distributaries of the Ganges in Bangladesh. The monsoon rains of the last few weeks have left the water-level alarmingly high. The mud embankment can hardly resist the water pressure. The silt-filled water basin is covered with dirty objects. Children splash around joyfully, bathing in those waters.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius are out there to get an impression of the climate change that plagues Bangladesh more than any other country today. Large stretches of land lie almost as low as the sea level. The densely populated country is already bearing the brunt of global warming; devastating cyclones, floods and saltwater intrusion of the soil are some of the immediate consequences.

The two foreign ministers were standing on the banks of the Bongshi, a narrow river they had never before heard of. Their planned visit to a storm shelter had been cancelled due to heavy rains. They were casually dressed in jeans and shirt sleeves, without a tie and with now soiled shoes. Returning to Dhaka, both the ministers immediately appealed to the European Union to agree, at the upcoming climate summit in Paris this November, on implementing methods that would limit the continuing global warming to a maximum of 2º Celsius.

The reason for their visit to Bangladesh was entirely different; they had come to inaugurate a building constructed to house the embassies of their two countries as of 2016. Placing the two embassies under one roof is meant to symbolise the friendship and close collaboration between the two neighbouring European states.

German Foreign Minister Steimeier spelled out a clear warning in the presence of the press: "Should the sea level rise just one more meter, a fifth of Bangladesh will be submerged."

The country is less than half as big as Germany, but has well more than double the population of Germany. A rising sea level would force millions of people to seek refuge elsewhere. Steinmeier holds the industrialised nations responsible for this frightening change, since Bangladesh itself contributes with a mere 0.15 per cent to the greenhouse gas emission. The German minister feels that any agreement on the climate change must be legally binding and supported with sufficient financial backing.

But there are also other reasons for Bangladeshis to be fleeing. For decades, they have been trying to get away from the bitter poverty in which a majority of the people simply cannot survive. While the state boasts of an admirable 6 per cent growth rate, the vast majority of the population struggles to live from a miserable average monthly income of $64. A lot of them would flee to India if they had a chance. The border fence between Bangladesh and India is a good example of how little migration fences can keep people from crossing borders.

With its 4096 kilometres, this fence is the fifth-longest border fence in the world. Bangladeshi cattle smugglers successfully cross this strictly guarded border frequently and often thrive in their illegal and dangerous but lucrative business. The border between Bangladesh and India is guarded with maximum security. The two-metre tall fence is made of barbed wire, some of it electrified, and there are stretches of border protected by brick walls. The official Indian statement is that their country needs to be protected from terrorists coming from Bangladesh. The military border guard does not distinguish between terrorists and other infiltrators; according to some human rights organisations, an average of one Bangladeshi is shot dead at the border every four days.

Another threat for a certain part of the Bangladeshi population is posed by Islamist terrorists. One victim of this is 31-year-old Mahmud Moni, a journalist who is wary of the system, an attitude that can be dangerous in Bangladesh despite claims of freedom of press.

For a year now, Moni has been living in Werl, a small town near Dortmund. Having sought political asylum in Germany 15 months ago, he now lives inside a 10-square-meter area under the protection of the Catholic Church. During an interview at Deutschlandfunk (radio), he said, "I wrote against Islamic extremists, against corruption in the government, about the sorry state of democracy in Bangladesh, about extra-judicial killings carried out by a special unit of the police and so on."

In the last two years, seven bloggers were slain by religious fanatics, two of them brutally hacked to death. Islamist terrorists are described as the most dangerous virus within a secular society. They have an international network and follow the violent ideologies of the IS.

Mahmud Moni is losing his patience. He is disappointed and depressed because the German government has not yet reached a decision regarding his application for asylum. His family in Bangladesh has no income either. But apparently, Moni faces a bleak future. According to the information available to the German government, Bangladesh is a safe country.


(Written in English by Adam Dawla)

Dr Klaus Beuerle is a Christian missionary who spent 25 years in Bangladesh. He now lives in Germany and writes often about Bangladeshi issues, in German.