Staff Reporter :
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi expressed concern at the Rohingya fund crisis due to Ukraine war and volatile Afghanistan situation.
“Bangladesh has been hosting the Rohingya refugees for decades. I want to remind the international community of the importance of their support, including flexible funding to protect Rohingya refugees until they can safely return home,” he said at a press conference in the capital on Wednesday.
He has appealed for sustained and predictable support for Rohingya refugees and their local host communities in Bangladesh, while emphasizing the need to maintain refugees’ hopes for voluntary return to Myanmar once the situation allows.
“Humanitarian agencies need more than US$881 million this year to support approximately 1.4 million people, including 920,000
Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, and around 540,000 Bangladeshis in neighbouring communities. As of May 2022, the Joint Response Plan is only 13 per cent funded,” he added.
“The world must remember the crisis that Rohingya refugees and their hosts have been facing for the last five years. The refugees’ lives depend on how the international community responds in caring for them,” Grandi said, after visiting the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char island.
About the solution of the Rohingya crisis, the High Commissioner said the solutions lie within Myanmar.
“The Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality,” Grandi said.
“Bangladesh, which has led in assisting nearly a million refugees, remains a priority partner for UNHCR, but continued international support is crucial to provide life-saving assistance and to build hope,” he stressed.
Some 28,000 Rohingya refugees have been relocated to Bhasan Char by the Government of Bangladesh, and the High Commissioner observed that essential humanitarian services have been scaled up.
He called for continued strong Government leadership on the island, enhanced education services, skills development and livelihood initiatives.
Grandi expressed gratitude to Bangladesh and underlined the important strides in the refugee response under the leadership of the Government, including Covid-19 vaccinations for more than 88 per cent of the refugee population are 18 years of age.
Meanwhile, COAST Foundation, a local NGO in Cox’s Bazar in a statement said the UN and other major powers are putting little political pressure on Myanmar government to make arrangement for the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
Head of COAST Foundation Rezaul Karim Chowdhury also said, “We consider voluntary repatriation is the only the solution and there is no other alternative to resolve the crisis.”
Expressing concern at the natural resources in Cox’s Bazar, he said, “Our natural resources are at stake in Cox’s Bazar. We want immediate ban of using plastic in camps and to limit the use of groundwater and to use surface water, especially from Naf river.”
He also said during a meeting with Filippo Grandi in Cox’s Bazar, the UNHCR chief has encouraged the idea of banning plastic use in camps and use of surface water.
