Photo Feature

people and life of the geneva camps
Unwanted & Forgotten

A photofeature by Amirul Rajiv


Stateless, homeless, dispossessed. Unwanted by one country and forgotten by another, the Biharis continue to eke out their precarious lives in limbo.

Refugees International estimates about 200,000 to 300,000 Biharis are currently housed in 66 camps all over Bangladesh. The Biharis do not fall within the international definition of "refugee," and hence do not come under the jurisdiction of international law, according to the UNHCR.

Often referred to as "stranded Pakistanis" -- displaced when Bangladesh won its independence -- with neither country offering citizenship, they have lived as a stateless people since 1971. In more than 35 years little has changed for these people without a home …

… yet many camps are housing at least two generations that have been born and bred in Bangladesh.