The international community, which came together at a pledging conference on Rohingys in Geneva, has vowed to stand with the refugees in Bangladesh and committed $340 million for the ongoing humanitarian response, the UN Dhaka office says.
Published : 23 Oct 2017, 09:22 PM
The European Union co-hosted the 'Pledging Conference on the Rohingya Refugee Crisis' with Kuwait and UN agencies on Monday.
The 28-countries bloc in a separate statement said they had pledged an additional €30 million for the Rohingya communities in Bangladesh.
This comes on the top of over €21 million in overall EU assistance already allocated to Rohingya and host communities in both Bangladesh and Myanmar, bringing the total EU support for this year to over €51 million.
At the beginning of the month, the humanitarian community in Bangladesh released a Response Plan that called for $434 million.
Since then the number of refugees in Bangladesh has continued to rise, with thousands of others still making the journey across the border every week.
“The commitments delivered at the conference were an opportunity for the international community to collectively mobilize resources to provide life-saving assistance to refugees, and members of the host community, in Cox’s Bazar.”
Speaking at the Pledging Conference, the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Robert Watkins said this is “now the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world and there is an urgent need for further funding to enable us to scale up humanitarian operations.”
“We are grateful to the government of Bangladesh, which has kept their border open, and to the host communities who have been so generous in supporting the new arrivals,” he said.
“We are thankful that the international community has also shown solidarity with the refugees and the willingness to support those who desperately need it.”
“In addition to the $116 million raised since the beginning of this crisis, the international community has now pledged an additional $340 million.
“This will allow aid agencies provide life-saving assistance, including shelter, food, clean, water, sanitation, health, nutrition and protective services, and prevent a further tragedy from occurring within this current crisis,” Watkins said.
EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica said beyond the immediate response, “we need to think of long-term solutions for Rohingya and host populations alike.”
“Whilst the focus should remain on creating an enabling environment for safe and dignified voluntary returns of Rohingya to Myanmar, we need to also ensure that local communities, who are already facing enormous challenges, are not left behind and that we provide the medium and long-term development assistance,” the commissioner said.
According to latest estimates, around 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh during the past two months, since the exodus began on Aug 25 following the latest spate of violence.
This brings the total number of Rohingya in the Cox's Bazar area in Bangladesh to about 1 million.