The head of the UN refugee agency on Wednesday urged the international community not to forget the more than one million Rohingya refugees who have fled neighboring Myanmar and are living in huge camps in Bangladesh.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he visited camps and a remote island near the border with Myanmar, where 28,000 refugees have been relocated, to ensure that Ukraine and Afghanistan remain in crisis amid the crisis. Their plight could not be forgotten.
Grandi is ending a five-day visit to Bangladesh during which he met with refugees, government officials, diplomats and donors.
UNHCR says only 13% of the $881 million needed to support refugees for the year has been released this month.
“That’s why I’m here trying to shine a light on Bangladesh, its people and the Rohingya refugees who have taken refuge for decades, and to remind the international community the importance of their support,” he told reporters in Dhaka. ,
Grandi said the long-term solution for the Rohingyas lies in Myanmar.
“The Rohingya refugees I met have reiterated their desire to return home when circumstances permit. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and turn those dreams into reality,” said Grandy.
After August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched an evacuation operation in response to attacks by a rebel group, more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh. Myanmar’s security forces have been accused of gang rape, murders and burning of thousands of homes.
The Rohingya are not recognized as citizens in Myanmar, are rendered stateless, and face state-sanctioned discrimination and other forms of violence.
Bangladesh has tried at least twice to repatriate the refugees to Myanmar, but they have refused, citing the ongoing threat.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says Myanmar should take back the refugees, but her government will not force them to return.