Diplomatic Correspondent :
The Myanmar’s incumbent government has renewed the agreement with the United Nations Refugee Agency on the repatriation of the Rohingya community to their homeland, Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
“The UN High Commissioner for Refugee and the Director General of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have informed me today that Myanmar has renewed the agreement on the repatriation of Rohingyas,” the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told the journalists in his office.
He said this after holding a virtual meeting with the different representatives including the UN Organisations like UNHCR and IOM on ‘Joint Response Plan (JRP) 2022 for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis’.
He further said the UN intervention on the Rohingya repatriation had been halted due to the internal conflicts within the government in Myanmar.
“Three years ago Myanmar did not accept the UN intervention to work for Rohingya repatriation. Due to some internal shift of the government, a concern cropped up on the repatriation issue. Now Myanmar has renewed the agreement,” the minister said.
“We think it’s a positive sign. It means the incumbent government of Myanmar, whatever form it may be, is keeping the pledges of their previous government,” Shahriar said.
About the meeting, the minister said, last year the estimated budget of JRP for Rohingya humanitarian crisis was $943 million dollars. Of which, $675 million dollars were collected from different countries and donor agencies.
This year the estimated budget is $841 million dollars. Of the total budget, an estimated $100 million dollars have been allocated for the Rohingya community, staying in Bhasan Char, the minister said.
The minister said, though the focus of the meeting was mainly on the humanitarian issue but the speakers on the virtual platform have emphasied on the repatriation purpose.
About the environmental degradation by Rohingya community, Shahriar said, “A big chunk of land over 6,000 acres has become deforested because of erecting camps. We have continuous programmes to reforest the area.” The minister said the government has relocated 26,000 Rohingays to the Bhashan Char so far with their full consents.
“Besides, the Rohingyas in Bhashan char are now getting the opportunity to visit their relatives in Cox’s Bazar. Some 1,000 Rohingyas have already visited their relatives and returned Bhashan Char,” he added.
The minister further said, the government has taken initiatives to relocate some 4,000 Rohingya to the Bhashan Char. Of them, 200 will be their leaders who will observe the situation there.
Under the government’s initiatives, the Rohingya community people are getting livelihood skills for income generation and their children are getting education in their mother tongue in Bhashan Char.
