“Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” - Global Coalition to Protect ...

sheets. 202 The government only much later provided roofs in the form of tin sheets or
tiles. “Every house got 5,000 rupees [roughly US$125]. Logs are our own. We got no
[other] assistance. Some of us got tiles; everything else we built on our own. We
used our own money and our own effort to build the walls,” said a villager from
Injeram camp. 203 Some camp residents complained that this was not an ongoing
government scheme, and villagers who arrived after the initial distribution of roofing
material have not received any assistance for housing. 204
The camps are so cramped that villagers who were initially able to save their
livestock were later forced to abandon them. For instance, one girl said, “We let our
cattle loose because we did not have a place in the camp to keep them.” 205 In their
villages, women had separate kitchens, or cooked outside their huts. Since there is
no space to cook outside their huts in camps, women are forced to cook inside their
huts. “Everyone coughs in the camp because of the smoke. Our eyes water, but we
have to keep cooking. Every bit of cloth in our home has turned black from the
smoke,” complained one of the women residents. 206
Even after two years, many camps do not have proper bathrooms, toilets, or
sanitation facilities. 207 Access to health and medical facilities is poor. Residents of
Konta camp despaired that there was only one health worker who visited the camp
everyday. 208 Similarly, Dornapal camp, where there are around 17,000 residents, has
202 Ibid.
203 Human Rights Watch group interview with V3 and V4 (who chose to remain anonymous), camp residents, Injeram camp,
December 9, 2007.
204 Human Rights Watch interview with camp residents (who chose to remain anonymous), Konta camp, December 9, 2007.
205 Human Rights Watch interview with Poosam Kanya (pseudonym), former resident of Errabore camp, location withheld,
December 5, 2007.
206 Human Rights Watch group interview GR7 with women camp residents (who chose to remain anonymous), Dornapal camp,
December 12, 2007.
207 Human Rights Watch group interview with Wanaji (pseudonym), Moner (pseudonyms), and V5 (who chose to remain
anonymous), camp residents, Konta camp, December 9, 2007. Residents of Konta camp stated that they had made a petition
for a toilet to be constructed in the camp about two weeks before their interview with Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch interview with A2 (name withheld), local activist, Dornapal camp, January 31, 2008; group interview GR8
with volunteers working in camps (name and details withheld). These volunteers shared similar stories regarding toilets and
sanitation facilities in camps.
208 Human Rights Watch group interview with Wanaji and Moner (pseudonyms), December 9, 2007.
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Human Rights Watch July 2008