UN has not started aid work for Rohingya in Bhasan Char, Bangladesh state minister says
Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 10 May 2022 11:28 PM BdST Updated: 10 May 2022 11:29 PM BdST
-
-
File Photo
Four months after representatives of the global body visited Bhasan Char, the United Nations has not started aid work for the Myanmar Rohingya refugees living on the island, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman has said.
Enamur spoke to the media after a meeting with Isobel Coleman, deputy administrator of USAID, and Nicholas Koumjian, head of UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“The UN agencies have not started working in Bhasan Char. I’ve sought USAID’s help so that the UN refugee agency [UNHCR] and the World Food Programme launch their programmes there,” he said.
The UN has been providing the Rohingya refugees with aid in the camps of Cox’s Bazar. The UN agencies expanded their presence in the camps by a great extent after more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar following a crackdown by the Myanmar military.
After the Bangladesh government launched a housing project on Bhasan Char and revealed its plan to relocate some of the 1 million Rohingya refugees to the island in order to ease pressure on Cox’s Bazar, the UN and other international organisations criticised the move.
Around 28,000 refugees have so far been moved to the island. The UN agreed to engage in Bhasan Char aid efforts in 2020 and a delegation of UN officials visited the island in January this year.

File Photo
The health facility on Bhasan Char has specialists and proper medicines, but when a patient requires a surgery, they need to be sent to the mainland.
“USAID does not provide assistance directly. They will increase funding for the UNHCR and the WFP so that they can work here [in Bhasan Char]. The aid will be provided soon,” said Enamur.
The state minister also said Koumjian emphasised repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. “They said they wanted to sit with Myanmar, but the Myanmar government did not cooperate with them.”
Enamur said the bilateral cooperation with the Myanmar government to send back the Rohingya was ongoing. “Myanmar was given a list of refugees in a meeting last month.”
-
Fears of waterlogging in Ctg before monsoon
-
Dhaka’s rail links with north, Khulna snapped
-
9.1m yaba pills destroyed in Cox's Bazar
-
RAB arrests 26 over extortion, mugging
-
Passenger arrested for smuggling gold hidden inside a nebuliser
-
Bangladeshi faces deportation after 25 years in Canada
-
Rival student groups clash again at DU
-
CCTV surveillance for municipal polls
-
Rail links to Dhaka restored after 12-hour disruption
-
Partially blocked for development, Chattogram canals add to waterlogging worries
-
Train runs off the tracks in Gazipur, snaps Dhaka’s rail links with northern districts, Khulna
-
Bangladesh elected to four governing councils of UNESCAP’s regional institutions
-
2 Bangladeshi policemen reported ‘missing’ in Netherlands after training
-
BGB destroys 9.1m yaba pills in Cox's Bazar
Most Read
- Bangladeshi faces deportation, separation from family after 25 years in Canada
- 2 Bangladeshi policemen reported ‘missing’ in Netherlands after training
- Dog day afternoon: India banishes bureaucrat couple amid stadium dog walk furore
- Bangladesh to set uniform dollar exchange rate amid currency volatility
- Banks will remain open on May 28 for Hajj travel management
- Train runs off the tracks in Gazipur, snaps Dhaka’s rail links with northern districts, Khulna
- Bollywood star Shah Rukh's son Aryan Khan cleared in drugs case
- Passenger arrested for smuggling gold hidden inside a nebuliser from Dubai
- 'Send the police now': Kids called 911 from Texas classroom during massacre as police waited
- Police acknowledge 'wrong decision' in delay in confronting Texas school shooter