The UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the People’s Republic of China’s US$1.5 million contribution to improve hygiene services of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Over 60,000 Rohingya women and girls, between twelve and 50 years old, will benefit from the support through China’s assistance body, the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) until 2025.  “This generous support from China comes at a crucial time, as we are into the seventh year of the current Rohingya refugee crisis,” said Sumbul Rizvi, UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh. Refugee women and girls have been receiving two hygiene kits each year. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) will partner with UNHCR to ensure over 250,000 kits under China’s grant support will reach Rohingya women. “China assumes its responsibility as a major country and provides assistance to help the displaced people improve living conditions. We look forward to undertaking more initiatives with UNHCR in future. The long-term solution to the crisis, however, lies in repatriation of the displaced people to Myanmar,” said Yao Wen, Ambassador of China to Bangladesh. UNHCR and the Chinese Government will collaborate to provide these kits. Chinese funding will ensure the provision of some items, including bathing and laundry soaps, as well as buckets. Over 200 women in Cox’s Bazar, from the refugee and Bangladeshi host communities, will work to produce the remaining items for the hygiene kits. It allows them to put their skills to use for their community, while also gaining an opportunity for limited self-reliance and livelihoods to support themselves. “Refugee women we talk to have highlighted the value of such kits, which they say are essential, and welcome the quality of the items produced by women within their own community,” said UNHCR’s Ms. Rizvi. UNHCR continues to work closely with women and the authorities in Bangladesh to improve living conditions. The offer of humanitarian assistance by countries, including China, is greatly needed to support the Government of Bangladesh in its humanitarian effort to respond to the Rohingya refugee situation. In 2023, humanitarian agencies have appealed for more than US$876 million to support almost 1.5 million people, including 960,000 Rohingya refugees and 495,000 Bangladeshis in neighbouring communities. By early December 2023, the Joint Response Plan was approximately 50 per cent funded.

On 6 December, UNHCR held project launch of China’s hygiene kits donation to displaced people, hosted by Sumbul Rizvi, UNHCR New Representative in Bangladesh. H.E. Yao Wen, Ambassador of China to Bangladesh attended and delivered a key note speech. Mizanur Rahman, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Md. Keramot Ali, Programme Coordinator of Myanmar Refugee Relief Operation of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society also participate in this event.   Yao indicated that since the outbreak of the Rohingya crisis more than six years ago, Prime Minister Hasina and the Government of Bangladesh have provided generous assistance to the displaced people, fully demonstrating the humanitarian spirit.   However, with the decreasing attention and assistance from the international community, the living conditions and security situation of the camps aredeteriorating. The displaced people are eager to return to their homes, and they should do so. Chinese Government is committed to promoting the joint efforts of Bangladesh and Myanmar to achieve the repatriation process at the earliest date.   At the same time, Chinese Government is also very concerned about the survival of the displaced people, especially women and children. The donation of $1.5 million hygiene kits will help the displaced women raise their awareness of hygiene and improve their health. China stands ready to further strengthen its cooperation with UN agencies, including UNHCR, and to work actively for the repatriation and resolution of the issue of displaced people. Ms Rizvi expresses her sincere gratitude to the Chinese side for its assistance to the displaced people, especially women and children. She noted that the camps for displaced peoples are currently facing a serious humanitarian crisis. The generous assistance provided by the Chinese Government at this critical moment fully reflects its concern for the displaced people, its support for the work of UNHCR, demonstrating the moral commitment of a responsible major country. UNHCR appreciates the Chinese side's commitment to solve the issue of displaced people politically, shares the view that voluntary, safe and sustainable repatriation is the only way to solve the issue, and is willing to further strengthen cooperation with the Chinese side.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is making an urgent appeal to all countries in the region, particularly those in the area surrounding the Andaman Sea, to swiftly deploy their full search and rescue capacities in response to reported vessels in distress with hundreds of Rohingya at risk of perishing. While all details are not fully known, UNHCR has received reports from various sources of a distress situation at sea, where two overcrowded boats have engine failures and are now aimlessly drifting in unseaworthy vessels in the Andaman Sea. Weather conditions over the coming days are unpredictable with cyclones being an unfortunate, but real, possibility. Combined, the two boats carry approximately 400 individuals. Another boat with 150 Rohingya was reported to have arrived in Sabang, an island north of Aceh early Saturday morning. Many more are reported to be still in distress in the open sea. UNHCR is concerned that food and water may be running out and there is a significant risk of fatalities in the coming days if people are not rescued and disembarked to safety. In line with the principle of non-refoulement,  international obligations under the Laws of the Sea and  longstanding maritime traditions, the duty to rescue persons in distress at sea must be upheld, irrespective of nationality or legal status of the persons in need of rescue. UNHCR commends Indonesia for respecting its international commitments by allowing more than 1,000 individuals to disembark since 14 November. Indonesia's example of solidarity and humanity needs to be followed by other States in the region. UNHCR reiterates its call for a comprehensive regional response to address these perilous maritime movements. Since 2022 until today more than 570 people including Rohingya refugees have been reported as dead or missing at sea.    The UN Refugee Agency warns again that many more might die under the watch of many coastal States, without timely rescue and disembarkation to the nearest place of safety.   UNHCR and partners stand ready to support in providing any necessary humanitarian assistance for those disembarked.

The new country representative of UNHCR to Bangladesh, Sumbul Rizvi, has presented her credentials to Foreign Minister Dr A. K. Abdul Momen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, October 9. Foreign Minister welcomed the new country representative to Bangladesh and assured her of necessary supports of the Government in executing her duties.  He appreciated the persistent engagement of UNHCR in rendering the humanitarian operations for the Rohingyas temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh as well as for the host community.  Foreign Minister highlighted the innumerable challenges Bangladesh has been facing in hosting for than 1.2 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (Rohingya) in Bangladesh.  Noting that a single Rohingya could not be repatriated to Myanmar in the last six years, Dr Momen cautioned that their prolonged stay in Bangladesh may pose threats to the security of the region and beyond. He called upon UNHCR and other UN agencies having presence in Myanmar to work with the Myanmar government towards creating conducive environment in Rakhine. The UNHCR Representative expressed her gratitude to Bangladesh for its continued cooperation to UNHCR. Underscoring the need for repatriation of the Rohingyas temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh, she mentioned that the UNHCR would continue its sincere efforts in maintaining the humanitarian response to the Rohingyas.  She concurred with the Foreign Minister that the Rohingya issue must remain at the top of the global agenda. She also agreed with Dr Momen that concerted and meaningful efforts by the international community were required for ensuring sustainable repatriation of displaced Rohingya people.

While chances of humanitarian crisis are increasing in Afghanistan with every passing day, donations from international and national companies have started pouring in Afghanistan. According to the UNHCR, the impact of the conflict on women and girls has been particularly devastating as almost 80pc of newly displaced Afghans are women and children. UNHCR’s activities in Pakistan have been supporting ongoing efforts with the government who has for decades hosted and provided protection to Afghan refugees. UNHCR will use the grant funding to provide over 3,000 displaced individuals, shelter and core relief items, including tents, thermal blankets for the upcoming harsh winter, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, cooking sets, jerry cans, buckets, solar lamps and hygiene products to address maternal and child health needs. The Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded a grant of $300,000 to provide humanitarian relief to displaced persons impacted by the recent crisis in Afghanistan. “This is a multi-faceted crisis disproportionately affecting women and girls,” said Saadia Madsbjerg, president of Foundation. “We hope this grant will be meaningful in providing displaced Afghan families in Pakistan with critical support.” Since the start of the year, UNHCR has provided lifesaving support to some 332,000 newly internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country, with some 115,000 assisted from the start of August to Sept 7. Source: Dawn BM

Bangladesh has conveyed to the UN refugee agency that the international community has no reason to worry about relocation of Rohingyas to Bhasan Char. Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations (UN) offices and other international organizations in Geneva Ambassador Md Mustafizur Rahman shared the logical points behind such voluntary relocation during a virtual meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi on Wednesday. Ambassador Mustafizur said no Rohingya could be repatriated over the last three years due to lact of political will from Myanmar despite Bangladesh’s sincere efforts to send back the Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State. He said Rohingyas were relocated to Bhasan Char volunatarily and drew attention to Grandi about the reports both from the international and local media outlets about the relocation of the first batch of Rohingyas. The Ambassador said the government as directed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave shelter to Rohingyas on humanitarian ground. In the face of growing concerns over the extreme congestion in Cox’s Bazar camps and to avert any risk of death due to landslides and other unwarranted incidents, the government of Bangladesh has decided to relocate, in phases, 100,000 Rohingyas to Bhashan Char. Accordingly, in the first phase, more than 1,600 Rohingyas who expressed their willingness for relocation were shifted to Bhashan Char on December 4. Bangladesh has urged all to exercise utmost caution not to undermine or misinterpret the genuine efforts of the government of Bangladesh noting that the voluntary relocation of Rohingyas to Bhasan Char has become imperative to decongest the overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar. "The Rohingyas are Myanmar nationals and they must return to Myanmar. The government of Bangladesh is doing its best for the safety and security of these temporarily sheltered Myanmar Nationals," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a statement. Bangladesh has encouraged human rights groups to put their efforts in creating a conducive environment inside Myanmar for their quick, safe and dignified repatriation to their land of origin, Myanmar. At this stage, it is only practical that the international community, including the United Nations, fulfills its responsibility and meaningfully engage with Myanmar to start repatriation, which is the only durable solution to this crisis, the statement reads. The relocation has become imperative to decongest the overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar that have temporarily been accommodating nearly a million of Rohingyas with many more thousands born each year, said the MoFA statement. It said the deteriorating security situation due to prolonged stay of these frustrated people in Cox’s Bazar also compelled the government of Bangladesh to come up with a contingency plan and develop Bhashan Char from its own budgetary allocation. Source: UNB AH

Regional Representative of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Khaled Khalifa said that no misuse is happening from the fund that is raised to assist the Rohingya people in Bangladesh. He said this in response to the questions of newsmen at a press conference held at a hotel in the capital on Monday. Khaled Khalifa said, it is true that to ensure proper use of the fund there should be accountability. No work can be done with transparency if there is no accountability. No misuse is happening regarding the fund. We are using the fund giving importance on the demands of local inhabitants and Rohingyas of Cox’s Bazar. He said, to assist Rohingyas in this year it needs 920.5 million dollars. Of those 14 percent money are collected. To provide rest of the money the listed countries formed to assist Rohingyas will be informed. The joint assistance plan (January-December) over Rohingya crisis was finalized on February 15 with participation of several countries. Recently Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque alleged, NGOs are spending 75 percent money for their own purpose that are collected as relief assistance from abroad. Nearly 150 crore taka was spent as hotel bills in six months. Along with huge expense was done for residence and transport purposes. AH 

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen urged UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) to put its utmost efforts for the early repatriation of the Rohingyas with dignity and safety. The foreign minister made the call when newly appointed Country Representative UNHCR in Bangladesh Steven Corliss presented his credentials to him on Monday afternoon. Reports BSS. Highlighting on the Prime Minister’s three points proposal during the last UN General Assembly and the recommendations of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar and the Kofi Annan Commission, Dr Momen urged the UNHCR representative to emphasize on addressing the root causes of the Rohingya crisis. The foreign minister stated that the protracted presence of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh might threaten the peace and stability of the region and beyond. He termed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s decision of hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas inside Bangladesh as courageous. The foreign minister assured of full support to the UNHCR, mentioning that UNHCR is a very credible organization. Steven Corliss mentioned that during his visit to Cox’s Bazar, the Rohingyas he met all wanted to go back to their country. He emphasized on sustainability of the return of the Rohingyas. Corliss served as the Special Adviser to the High Commissioner on Internal Displacement at the UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva before assuming the charges in Dhaka. AH

In its annual Global Trends report, released on Tuesday, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency said 68.5 million people were displaced as of the end of 2017. Reports BSS. Among them were 16.2 million people who became displaced during 2017 itself, either for the first time or repeatedly – indicating a huge number of people on the move and equivalent to 44,500 people being displaced each day, or a person becoming displaced every two seconds. Wars, other violence and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, led by the crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan’s war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas. Overwhelmingly it is developing countries that are most affected, UNHCR in its report said. Refugees who have fled their countries to escape conflict and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million. This is 2.9 million more than in 2016, also the biggest increase UNHCR has seen in a single year. Asylum-seekers, who were still awaiting the outcome of their claims to refugee status as of December, 31, 2017, meanwhile rose by around 300,000 to 3.1 million. People displaced inside their own country accounted for 40 million of the total, slightly fewer than the 40.3 million in 2016. In short, the world had almost as many forcibly displaced people in 2017 as the population of Thailand. Across all countries, one in every 110 persons is someone displaced. “We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so that countries and communities aren’t left dealing with this alone,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “But there is reason for some hope. Fourteen countries are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly. Today, on the eve of World Refugee Day, my message to member states is please support this. No one becomes a refugee by choice; but the rest of us can have a choice about how we help,” he added. UNHCR’s Global Trends report is released worldwide each year ahead of June 20, World Refugee Day and tracks forced displacement based on data gathered by UNHCR, governments, and other partners. AH

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Bangladesh government on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the voluntary returns of Rohingya refugees once the conditions in Myanmar are conducive. The MoU, signed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque in Geneva, established a framework of cooperation between UNHCR and Bangladesh on the safe, voluntary, and dignified returns of refugees in line with international standards. Reports UNB. Over 6 lakh 70 thousand Rohingya fled violence in Myanmar since last August, joining an estimated 2 lakh Rohingya who have sought shelter in Bangladesh, arriving in waves over the past decades.  For the hospitality, protection and assistance provided to those refugees, UNHCR would like to extend its sincere thanks to the government and people of Bangladesh, according to a message received from Geneva. In the absence of a tripartite agreement between UNHCR, Myanmar and Bangladesh, UNHCR has continued to engage with both governments in negotiations on two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), meant to ensure that any future returns are conducted in line with the international standards of voluntariness, safety and dignity. UNHCR considers that conditions in Myanmar are not yet conducive for returns to be safe, dignified and sustainable.  The responsibility for creating such conditions remains with the Myanmar authorities, and these must go beyond the preparation of physical infrastructure to facilitate logistical arrangements. Refugees in Bangladesh have said before considering return to Myanmar, they would need to see concrete progress in relation to their legal status and citizenship, security and their ability to enjoy basic rights at home in Rakhine State. UNHCR has continued to call on the Myanmar government to take concrete measures to address the root causes of displacement, in line with the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. One step it could immediately take is to provide UNHCR and other relevant actors with full and unhindered access to refugees’ places of origin in Rakhine, which would enable UNHCR to assess the situation and provide information to refugees about conditions in the places of origin, as well as to monitor any possible future return and reintegration of refugees. Another practical measure would be to ease restrictions on movement for the internally displaced persons encamped in the central townships of Rakhine, which would also help to build confidence among refugees in Bangladesh. Such concrete measures would help demonstrate to refugees that the Myanmar government is committed to a sustainable solution. In Myanmar, together with the UN Development Program (UNDP), UNHCR is in ongoing discussions with the Myanmar government on a tripartite agreement to outline the scope of cooperation between these agencies and the Myanmar government in Rakhine.  The agreement would aim to set forth a framework for refugees’ voluntary repatriation in line with international standards, create conditions that are conducive to eventual voluntary repatriation, and provide humanitarian and development assistance for all people of Rakhine State. AH