UN, partners seek over $850 million to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

International solidarity with Bangladesh and refugee protection is needed more than ever as the conflict in Myanmar escalates, the UNHCR says

The UN refugee agency UNHCR and its other humanitarian partners have called on the international community to redouble efforts to protect and assist Myanmar's forcibly displaced Rohingya population and their host communities in Bangladesh.

The funding appeal presented to donors in Geneva on Wednesday sought $852.4 million to reach some 1.35 million people, including Rohingya refugees and host communities.

Bangladesh is generously hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Myanmar seven years ago, the UN refugee agency said.

The Joint Response Plan 2024 for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis was being launched under the leadership of the Bangladeshi authorities. The plan and related financial needs were presented to donors in Geneva by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and Director General of the International Organization for Migration Amy Pope.

International solidarity with Bangladesh and refugee protection is needed more than ever as the conflict in Myanmar escalates, the UNHCR statement said.

The Joint Response Plan brings together 117 partners, nearly half of them Bangladeshi organisations. It aims to help some 1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char island, and 346,000 people from host communities, with food, shelter, health care, access to drinkable water, protection services, education and livelihood opportunities and skills development.

Some 95 percent of Rohingya households in Bangladesh are vulnerable and remain dependent on humanitarian assistance, the UNHCR said.

Citing that over half of the refugees in the camps are under 18, the agency said sustained assistance is critically and urgently needed, particularly by women and children, who make up more than 75 percent of the targeted refugee population and face heightened risks of abuse, exploitation and gender-based violence.

“The government, local communities and aid agencies in Bangladesh need sustained international support to respond to increasing needs as this humanitarian crisis remains largely out of the international spotlight.”

‘Underfunding’ in previous years has had serious implications as Rohingya women, children and men -- who fled to Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar -- struggle to meet basic needs and their plight risks slipping into obscurity, the statement read.