UK to provide additional funds for Rohingyas in Bangladesh

The United Kingdom has agreed to provide an additional £87 million to sustain the Rohingya refugee operations in Cox’s Bazar.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 Sept 2019, 11:32 AM
Updated : 22 Sept 2019, 11:32 AM

British High Commissioner Robert Dickson and DFID Bangladesh head Judith Herbertson made the announcement at a media briefing in Dhaka on Sunday.

The funds will be used to provide food, health care, water, sanitation, care and counseling for sexual violence survivors, and protection for vulnerable groups.

Of that, over £20 million will be made available to support the local host community in Cox’s Bazar.

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas. About 750,000 of them fled the ‘ethnic cleansing’ in their homeland Myanmar in August 2017.

Despite attempts to repatriate the forcibly displaced Rohingyas, no-one retuned to their homeland citing Myanmar's failure to create conditions conducive to their “voluntary, safe and dignified” return.

Britain is the leading donor in the efforts to support the Rohingyas in the refugee camps.

“Since August 2017, UK aid from British taxpayers has contributed £226 million to provide life-sustaining humanitarian assistance to almost one million Rohingya people,” Herbertson said.

“This additional £87 million will help deliver stability and security for the Rohingya and for vulnerable local communities in Cox’s Bazar who have been affected by the crisis,” she said, appreciating Bangladesh’s generosity to give them shelter.

High Commissioner Dickson said the UK and Bangladesh have “a strong and enduring partnership, which continues to deepen as Bangladesh transitions to becoming a middle-income country.”

“We greatly appreciate the remarkable generosity and humanity the government and the people of Bangladesh have shown in hosting the Rohingya people,” he said.

“The overarching aim must remain finding a solution to this crisis, so that the Rohingya can voluntarily return to Myanmar in safety and dignity. The UK remains committed to ensuring that conditions are put in place to allow this to happen.”