Special Correspondent :
The United Nations and its humanitarian agencies have sought US$920 million in aid from donors to address critical needs of the nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees and more than 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in the communities hosting them.
The appeal for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis (Joint Response Plan-2019) was launched on Friday in Geneva by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, IOM Director General William Swing and UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam represented Bangladesh at the Joint Response Plan (JRP) presentation meeting.
The new JRP sets out a comprehensive humanitarian effort shaped around three strategic objectives. By bringing together 132 partners – UN agencies, international and national NGOs and government bodies in a collective effort – the Plan aims to deliver protection to refugee women, men, girls and boys, provide life-saving assistance and foster social cohesion.
The 2019 JRP is the third joint humanitarian appeal and builds on achievements made so far in order to further stabilize the situation of Rohingya refugees.
The previous JRP (from a period of March-December 2018) was launched on March 16 last year where U.N. agencies and their humanitarian partners appealed jointly for $951 million to provide essential humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees and vulnerable Bangladeshis in nearby communities.
The UN agencies so far received $655 million against the US$950 million required fund in the JRP-2018,” according to UNHCR.
More than 745,000 Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping torture in Myanmar and joining roughly 200,000 others already displaced in the Cox’s Bazar area by previous cycles of violence.
With the generosity and support of the Bangladeshi authorities and local communities, who were the first to respond to the emergency, critical needs were met and many lives were saved.
“The solidarity shown by the Government of Bangladesh and the commitment of humanitarian partners ensured the successful implementation of the first Joint Response Plan in 2018. Moving forward, we reiterate our commitment to meeting the dire needs of this population and urge the international community to support these efforts,” said International Organization for Migration Director General António Vitorino in a statement on Friday.
He said the international humanitarian response aims to ensure refugees and host communities receive the life-saving assistance, protection and support they desperately need, complementing the continuing efforts of the Bangladeshi authorities.
“Our humanitarian imperative today is to stabilise the situation of stateless Rohingya refugees and their Bangladesh hosts. We are hoping for timely, predictable and flexible contributions in order to meet the goals of this year’s appeal,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
“But while we tackle these immediate humanitarian needs, we must not lose sight of solutions. I repeat my call to Myanmar to take urgent action to address the root causes of this crisis which have persisted for decades, so that people are no longer forced to flee and can eventually return home in safety and dignity. We encourage countries in this region and beyond to show solidarity with Bangladesh and to support Myanmar to start creating conditions for voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees,” Grandi continued.
“The UN humanitarian agencies are in dire need for urgent funding to provide essential aid for thousands of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. “We need emergency funding to respond to the acute humanitarian crisis, as the JRP 2018 remains largely under funded,” an UN official in Bangladesh told The New Nation yesterday.
He said without urgent funding, vulnerable families will be deprived from essential financial and food assistance, children will not have access to learning opportunities, urgent medical needs will not be addressed, livelihood opportunities will not be created, responses to violence and exploitation will be scaled-back, and access to basic water and sanitation services reduced.
“With another cyclone season almost upon the region, huge funding gaps remain for programmes that would prevent loss of lives,” he added.
The Bangladesh Government and people have responded with extraordinary generosity and hospitality to the 671,000 Rohingya refugees who have arrived since 25 August.
The Kutupalong-Balukhali site, where some 600,000 refugees are living, is now the largest and most densely populated refugee settlement in the world.
Precarious conditions and the ongoing emergency response there are about to be further challenged by the approaching monsoon season, placing more than 150,000 Rohingya refugees at risk of landslides and floods, threatening disaster on top of the current emergency, according to UNHCR.
The UN Refugee Agency said that over the past 12 months aid agencies have worked to improve the conditions across refugee settlements through the support provided under the 2018 JRP — providing basic assistance, upgrading living conditions in the camps and putting in place disaster risk mitigation measures for monsoon and cyclone seasons.
The United Nations and its humanitarian agencies have sought US$920 million in aid from donors to address critical needs of the nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees and more than 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in the communities hosting them.
The appeal for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis (Joint Response Plan-2019) was launched on Friday in Geneva by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, IOM Director General William Swing and UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam represented Bangladesh at the Joint Response Plan (JRP) presentation meeting.
The new JRP sets out a comprehensive humanitarian effort shaped around three strategic objectives. By bringing together 132 partners – UN agencies, international and national NGOs and government bodies in a collective effort – the Plan aims to deliver protection to refugee women, men, girls and boys, provide life-saving assistance and foster social cohesion.
The 2019 JRP is the third joint humanitarian appeal and builds on achievements made so far in order to further stabilize the situation of Rohingya refugees.
The previous JRP (from a period of March-December 2018) was launched on March 16 last year where U.N. agencies and their humanitarian partners appealed jointly for $951 million to provide essential humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees and vulnerable Bangladeshis in nearby communities.
The UN agencies so far received $655 million against the US$950 million required fund in the JRP-2018,” according to UNHCR.
More than 745,000 Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping torture in Myanmar and joining roughly 200,000 others already displaced in the Cox’s Bazar area by previous cycles of violence.
With the generosity and support of the Bangladeshi authorities and local communities, who were the first to respond to the emergency, critical needs were met and many lives were saved.
“The solidarity shown by the Government of Bangladesh and the commitment of humanitarian partners ensured the successful implementation of the first Joint Response Plan in 2018. Moving forward, we reiterate our commitment to meeting the dire needs of this population and urge the international community to support these efforts,” said International Organization for Migration Director General António Vitorino in a statement on Friday.
He said the international humanitarian response aims to ensure refugees and host communities receive the life-saving assistance, protection and support they desperately need, complementing the continuing efforts of the Bangladeshi authorities.
“Our humanitarian imperative today is to stabilise the situation of stateless Rohingya refugees and their Bangladesh hosts. We are hoping for timely, predictable and flexible contributions in order to meet the goals of this year’s appeal,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
“But while we tackle these immediate humanitarian needs, we must not lose sight of solutions. I repeat my call to Myanmar to take urgent action to address the root causes of this crisis which have persisted for decades, so that people are no longer forced to flee and can eventually return home in safety and dignity. We encourage countries in this region and beyond to show solidarity with Bangladesh and to support Myanmar to start creating conditions for voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees,” Grandi continued.
“The UN humanitarian agencies are in dire need for urgent funding to provide essential aid for thousands of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. “We need emergency funding to respond to the acute humanitarian crisis, as the JRP 2018 remains largely under funded,” an UN official in Bangladesh told The New Nation yesterday.
He said without urgent funding, vulnerable families will be deprived from essential financial and food assistance, children will not have access to learning opportunities, urgent medical needs will not be addressed, livelihood opportunities will not be created, responses to violence and exploitation will be scaled-back, and access to basic water and sanitation services reduced.
“With another cyclone season almost upon the region, huge funding gaps remain for programmes that would prevent loss of lives,” he added.
The Bangladesh Government and people have responded with extraordinary generosity and hospitality to the 671,000 Rohingya refugees who have arrived since 25 August.
The Kutupalong-Balukhali site, where some 600,000 refugees are living, is now the largest and most densely populated refugee settlement in the world.
Precarious conditions and the ongoing emergency response there are about to be further challenged by the approaching monsoon season, placing more than 150,000 Rohingya refugees at risk of landslides and floods, threatening disaster on top of the current emergency, according to UNHCR.
The UN Refugee Agency said that over the past 12 months aid agencies have worked to improve the conditions across refugee settlements through the support provided under the 2018 JRP — providing basic assistance, upgrading living conditions in the camps and putting in place disaster risk mitigation measures for monsoon and cyclone seasons.
