Seven years have passed since the large-scale arrival of Rohingya refugees, and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is once again pleading with international partners to continue their support in protecting the approximately one million Rohingya who are being hosted by Bangladesh and in finding long-term solutions to end their plight.
Approximately 700,000 Rohingya men, women, and children were compelled to leave Myanmar on August 25, 2017, joining those who had already gone in earlier years and seeking safety in Bangladesh. Along with help for the local hosting communities, the world community praised Bangladesh’s government and people for their kindness in offering the Rohingya a temporary haven that has been essential in providing for their protection and basic requirements. However, in recent months, funding uncertainty and security concerns have threatened to undercut all but the most vital and life-saving aid.
UNHCR welcomes Bangladesh’s renewed commitment to the refugees, set forth in Dhaka recently by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of Bangladesh’s Interim Government. We echo Dr. Yunus’s call for continued solidarity from the international community through consistent financial support and helping to ensure their “eventual repatriation to Myanmar, with safety, dignity and full rights.” Bangladesh’s humanitarian spirit, at a time of transition for the Bangladeshi people, deserves global appreciation.
In Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the escalated conflict has only worsened conditions for the Rohingya. Many remain stateless with limited access to higher education and jobs, and vulnerable to violence. Yet refugees in Bangladesh continue to say that they long to return to their homes and villages when it is safe to do so. A dignified and sustainable return to Myanmar remains the primary solution to this crisis. We call on the international community to demonstrate the political will to make this possible. We also call on the Bangladesh authorities to ensure that civilians fleeing the violence in Myanmar be allowed access to protection in Bangladesh.
Like all of us, the Rohingya aspire for better futures, not determined by religion, race, or the socio-economic conditions of their birth. In Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char, 52 per cent of the refugee population are under 18 years old, many of them born in asylum or having spent their first years in refugee camps. With meaningful support and opportunities, they are capable of immense achievement. We must invest in Rohingya children, youth, women and girls, empowering them to lift their own communities. Through partnership and collective action, we can counter the harmful impacts of generations of violence and deprivation, including the harm caused by exploitative organized groups who prey on vulnerable youth in the camps.
Already, thousands of Rohingya have taken positively to trainings and responsibilities to support critical services in the camps, including legal counseling, mental health, community health work, operation and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure, shelter repair, as well as serving as first responders to weather and fire incidents. Enhancing resilience through skills, education and livelihoods programmes is critical to helping the refugees to stand on their own feet and move beyond aid dependency. UNHCR calls on stakeholders to continue their support for refugees’ self-reliance.
Humanitarian organizations have requested $852 million in 2024 in order to support 1.35 million individuals, including Bangladeshi villages that are hosting Rohingya refugees. We implore funders and private entities to increase their financial support for the Rohingya response. Both the Rohingya people and the kind people of Bangladesh, who cannot be left to handle this issue on their own, deserve our best.
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