Our Correspondent
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen rejected all proposals for permanent residence of Rohingyas in Bangladesh. At the same time, he requested all humanitarian agencies including UNHCR and IOM to ensure safe and voluntary repatriation of Rohingyas to their motherland Myanmar. Apart from this, he reiterated Bangladesh’s commitment to a sustainable solution to the long-standing Rohingya problem.
Masood bin Momen said these things at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingyas in Geneva on March 13.
Foreign Secretary Masoud bin Momen warned, “Threats arising from the risk of radicalization and extremism among the Rohingya could undermine regional stability.”
The foreign secretary said, “If the broader international community does not implement policies based on fairness, it is not possible for Bangladesh, UNHCR, IOM and WFP to carry out humanitarian aid operations and provide protection to the Rohingya.” He urged the international community to increase their pledged aid for the Rohingya to overcome the growing funding crisis.
The Foreign Secretary noted, ‘Despite its serious impact on the economy, environment, security and socio-political stability of Bangladesh, the country has been providing humanitarian assistance to more than 1.1 million Rohingyas for the past six years. Bangladesh is the largest donor country in this humanitarian aid program and spent 1.6 billion US dollars in 2022 alone.
The foreign secretary urged the international community to find alternative ways to reduce the pressure on Bangladesh to solve the Rohingya problem.
Masud bin Momen also said that 30,000 newborns are being born in Rohingya refugee camps every year.
Rejecting the possibility of integrating the Rohingyas with the people of Bangladesh, Foreign Secretary Masood bin Momen requested all humanitarian organizations including UNHCR and IOM to take measures for the return of the Rohingyas to their country.
This year’s JRP seeks funding of USD 852 million to provide humanitarian assistance to 1.35 million Rohingya and host communities through 195 projects. Rohingya repatriation has been set as the first strategic objective of JRP-2014.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the safe, voluntary and dignified repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar would be a sustainable solution to the crisis. He urged the international community to play an effective role in this regard. Apart from this, he appreciated the initiative of the Bangladesh government in accepting grants and loans from the IDA Credit Fund of the World Bank to ensure the welfare of the Rohingya and the affected people of his country.
The High Commissioner further said that this initiative of the government will inflate the supplementary fund of JRP.
IOM Director-General Amy Pope expressed concern about the growing funding shortfall of the humanitarian aid fund. “There is a lot of positive potential among the Rohingya people,” he said. He called on the international community to work towards building the capacity of these people to ensure their eventual repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar.
In the closing speech of the program, Chief Secretary Mohammad Tofajzel Hossain Mia also drew the attention of the delegates present about the adverse effect on the ecology and biodiversity of Cox’s Bazar. He particularly mentioned that the existence of six thousand hectares of protected forest land in Cox’s Bazar, the refuge of the Rohingyas, is now facing extinction. He asked the international community to give more importance to combating the adverse effects of climate change.
