The EU's is to contribute an extra €30 million for the Rohingya communities in Bangladesh, a Muslim minority forced in their thousands to leave neighbouring Burma/Myanmar.
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides made this announcement at an international donor conference in Geneva on Monday 23 October. This 'Pledging Conference on the Rohingya Refugee Crisis' was co-chaired by the United Nations (UNHCR, OCHA and IOM), the European Union and Kuwait. It hopes to raise US$434 million by 2018, including the US$100 million already pledged or disbursed for this cause.
"The Rohingya deserve nothing less than every other human being in the world. They deserve a future. We have a moral duty to give these people hope", Stylianides stated, who will be travelling to Bangladesh next week to visit EU-funded aid projects.
Of the €30 million announced at the pledging conference, €5 million is being allocated for emergency humanitarian aid to meet the most urgent needs of the Rohingya population and host communities in Bangladesh (drinking water, sewage, healthcare, education, food and protection); another €5 million is being allocated to support the registration of arriving Rohingya; and a total of €20 million is being allocated to support early recovery and development action in the country.
"Beyond the immediate response, we need to think of long-term solutions for Rohingya and host populations alike. Whilst the focus should remain on creating an enabling environment for safe and dignified voluntary returns of Rohingya to Myanmar, we need to also ensure that local communities, who are already facing enormous challenges, are not left behind", European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica stated.
The new aid comes on top of the €21 million already pledged by the EU to the Rohingya in Burma and their refugee communities in Bangladesh. Aid projects in Burma have been greatly restricted over the past fortnight due to restrictions on access to humanitarian aid in Rakhine state. The latest estimates suggest that some 600,000 Rohingya have taken refuge in Bangladesh over the past two months, taking the total number of Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazaar region of Bangladesh to around 900,000. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)