The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has called for greater international support and solidarity for the nearly one million Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi hosts.
To date, the UN’s Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh is only 26 per cent funded, UN refugee agency said on Thursday. The High Commissioner who left Dhaka on July 4, travelled to Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar together with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem to rally support for what was the world’s fastest-growing refugee emergency in 2017. Starting on Sunday, the UN principals met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, thanking the government and people of Bangladesh for their response, protection and shelter for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. They also discussed the continued support of the international community for refugees and the Bangladeshi communities hosting them. “In a world in which borders are closing down in front of people seeking asylum, Bangladesh has generously kept its borders open to Rohingya refugees. This is a lesson in humanity to many other countries in the world that are doing exactly the opposite,” the High Commissioner said on Thursday at conclusion of his visit.
On Monday, the delegation travelled to Cox’s Bazar in south-east Bangladesh where they met Rohingya refugees living at the Kutupalong site – the world’s largest refugee settlement. The joint UN delegation met newly arrived refugees from Myanmar at a UNHCR supported Transit Centre that currently receives around 50 new arrivals a week. They also visited a Women’s Friendly Space, a Primary Health Centre and a newly levelled area where UNHCR and partners have safely relocated hundreds of refugees threatened by monsoon rains that cause landslides and floods. “We are continuing to run an emergency response which has been compounded by the urgency of reinforcing shelters and relocating people during the monsoon,” the High Commissioner said while also emphasizing the need to address medium-term issues for the refugees and host community after rains end. Extending his visit in Bangladesh, the High Commissioner visited an integrated primary health centre and a learning centre for children at the Kutupalong settlement, and met with refugee volunteers involved in community outreach. Most of some 900,000 Rohingya refugees now in Bangladesh fled violence in Myanmar since August last year. Ten months into their displacement, addressing their needs, particularly in the fields of health and education, is becoming a key focus of the humanitarian response.
The High Commissioner concluded his visit at the overstretched Sadar district hospital in Cox’s Bazar, where he witnessed first-hand the challenges the local health facilities facing.
