UN welcomes EU's €6.2M in aid for Rohingya in Bangladesh

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - The European Union will contribute €6.2 million ($6 million) through the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for persecuted Rohingya refugees and their host communities on the southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

The UNHCR in a statement Monday welcomed the EU’s contribution, saying it will support the monitoring of the refugees’ safety and well-being while ensuring their access to legal assistance as well as strengthen the prevention of and response to gender-based violence and access for children to protection and assistance services.

The EU’s contribution will come through DG ECHO, the civil protection and humanitarian aid operations department of the European Commission, the UNHCR added.

"As the humanitarian response for Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar is entering its sixth year, the sustained support of the European Union to UNHCR’s activities in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and on (the island of) Bhasan Char remains invaluable,” Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh, was quoted as saying in the statement.

"Nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh continue to live in dire conditions and require our unwavering support, particularly when it comes to protection," said Anna Orlandini, who oversees EU humanitarian programs in Bangladesh.

Five years after being forced to flee violence and atrocities in Myanmar, currently over 910,000 Rohingya refugees are hosted in Bangladesh in densely populated camps in Cox’s Bazar, with an additional 30,000 refugees residing on Bhasan Char.