UN, partners seek $852.4m to support Rohingya refugees, Bangladeshi hosts

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with other humanitarian partners, on Wednesday called on the international community to redouble efforts to protect and assist Rohingya refugees and their host communities. 

Bangladesh is generously hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Myanmar seven years ago. 

The 2024 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis is being launched under the leadership of the Bangladeshi authorities. The funding appeal seeks $852.4 million to reach some 1.35 million people including Rohingya refugees and host communities, reads a press release.

The plan and related financial needs is being presented to donors in Geneva by Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, foreign secretary of Bangladesh; Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah, principal secretary to Bangladesh prime minister; Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees; and Amy Pope, director general of the International Organisation for Migration.

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

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 the island of Bhasan Char, and 3,46,000 from host communities, with food, shelter, health care, access to drinkable water, protection services, education and livelihood opportunities and skills development.

Some 95% of Rohingya households in Bangladesh are vulnerable and remain dependent on humanitarian assistance. Sustained assistance is critically and urgently needed, particularly by women and children, who make up more than 75% of the targeted refugee population, and face heightened risks of abuse, exploitation and gender-based violence. More than half of the refugees in the camps are under 18, languishing amidst limited opportunities for education, skills-building and livelihoods, says the media release