Situation in Northern Rakhine is better: UN heads tell Bangladesh

The joint delegation of the UN agencies has updated the state minister for foreign affairs about the recent work of the UN agencies in the Northern Rakhine of Myanmar.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 24 April 2019, 06:58 PM
Updated : 24 April 2019, 06:58 PM

They said that though “the development is not significant, but the situation is better than before”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.  They also briefed about the funding status for implementing the Joint Response Plan-2019.

Head of three UN agencies Filippo Grandi of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Vitorino, who is the Director General of International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Mark Lowcock, who is the head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Emergency Relief Coordinator, jointly called on Md Shahriar Alam on Wednesday.

They are currently on a joint visit to Bangladesh from April 24-28. They will also meet Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday. The delegation is scheduled to visit Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps on April 25-26.

The delegation commended Bangladesh’s efforts towards addressing the basic needs of the Rohingyas and said Bangladesh has dealt with the Rohingya issue in an exemplary way.

They said the visit is intended to express solidarity with Bangladesh. They also raised the issue of education, training, and livelihood opportunities for the Rohingyas in the camps of Cox’s Bazar.

Shahriar told the delegation that the government has already developed Bhasan Char island to accommodate 100,000 Rohingyas.

Relocating the Rohingyas to Bhasan Char will help ease the congestion problem in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.

The state minister expressed dissatisfaction at the failure of Myanmar to build confidence among the Rohingyas to return to their homeland.

He urged the visiting UN agency heads to put further efforts to create a conducive environment in Northern Rakhine and also enhance the engagement with Myanmar in building schools, hospitals, mosques and other basic structures for the Rohingyas in their place of return.

The state minister reiterated the proposal of creating safe zone in Myanmar proposed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the UN General Assembly and requested the visiting dignitaries to pursue with Myanmar for creating the safe zone.

Shahriar promised Bangladesh's support for the humanitarian actors working for the Rohingyas and urged the UN agencies to take effective steps to solve the Rohingya crisis.