UNHCR and IOM call for more than €900 million to help nearly 1.5 million Rohingya refugees

March 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have requested on Tuesday about 1,000 million dollars (about 938 million euros) in aid to address the situation in which almost 1.5 million Rohingya refugees and offer assistance to host communities in Bangladesh.

The UNHCR representative in Bangladesh, Johannes van der Klaauw, has called on the partners of the UN agency and members of the international community to “redouble their efforts and offer financial aid to support and find solutions to the crisis of Rohingya refugees as the situation deepens and the crisis enters its sixth year.

UNHCR’s Joint Response Plan for 2023, which is led by the Bangladeshi authorities, seeks to help some 970,000 Rohingya in camps in Cox’s Bazar and on the island of Bhasan Char, as well as 495,000 people who are in nearby Bangladeshi communities. For this, it requests 876 million dollars (about 821 million euros).

“Every day these one million Rohingya who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar to move to Bangladesh wake up uncertain of their future. They are desperate and want to go back to their homes in Myanmar, which is impossible right now.” , he lamented before adding that “instead they live in overcrowded camps and in dangerous conditions.”

Thus, he has pointed out that the needs of refugees continue to be “urgent” and that women and children, who make up 75 percent of the refugee population, are at risk of suffering “abuse, exploitation and violence.” More than half of the refugees in these camps are under 18 years of age, warns UNHCR.

The lack of resources has already led the World Food Program to introduce cuts in aid to the Rohingyas living in these camps. Despite the efforts, 45 percent of families do not have enough food and suffer from malnutrition.

For this reason, UNHCR has stressed that it is of “vital importance” to guarantee support for these populations to allow them “to have access to the most basic foods”. In addition, he has insisted that the transfer of many of them to the island of Bhasan Char “must be complemented with additional investment in initiatives to improve living conditions.”

UNHCR has warned that “the prolonged displacement and the conditions in the camps, which have been deteriorating, have caused an increase in the number of refugees who begin dangerous journeys by boat in search of a better future.”

Data from the agency indicates that in 2022 alone, more than 3,500 Rohingyas tried to cross the Burma Sea and the Bay of Bengal, a journey that left at least a dozen dead.

“The solution to the Rohingya crisis depends on Burma. Many refugees continue to express their desire to return home if the situation allows, but there is no hope or dignity there either,” he said in a statement.

IOM ALSO CALLS FOR RESOURCES

For its part, the IOM has requested 125 million dollars (about 117 million euros) as its work in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis in the Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar progresses.

Since the migration crisis broke out in 2017, some 900,000 Rohingyas have requested temporary refuge in the area, where the government and the international community have been delivering humanitarian aid.

The needs of these refugees are “immense” and meeting them depends “entirely on the support received by the organizations until they can return to their country in a healthy and dignified manner,” the IOM said in a statement.

“The current crises and disasters around the world should not make us forget the needs of the Rohingyas and the response in Bangladesh,” said the organization’s director general, António Vitorino, who indicated that “there is an urgency to increase the assistance to ensure they receive the support they need.

The head of the IOM mission in Bangladesh, Abdusattor Esoev, has qualified that the priorities revolve around the possibility of “delivering assistance to protect the most vulnerable and save lives.” Thus, he recalled that two days ago there was a tragic fire in the Cox’s Bazar camps, for which 2,000 stores have been completely destroyed and 16,000 refugees have been left homeless.

“We ask the international community to contribute generously to our efforts to help these refugees. Let us not forget our commitment to the Rohingya in Bangladesh,” he said.