Donor pledges for the Rohingya not enough

The Daily Star
May 20, 2021

EDITORIAL

A Rohingya refugee girl walks next to a pond at the Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, on January 10, 2018. Photo: Tyrone Siu/Reuters

International community must show more solidarity towards refugees

The February military coup in Myanmar has plunged our neighbouring country into unrest and brought its uncertain journey towards democracy to a grinding halt. As the military junta continues to brutally suppress pro-democracy protests and wage war against ethnic armed organisations, driving thousands of its own people into refugee camps, the situation of the Rohingya refugees stranded in Bangladesh has become even more precarious, with mounting uncertainty over their repatriation.

At a time when the international community should be stepping forward to support refugees as much as possible, it is surprising to see that only around 35 percent of the requirements of the 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis—launched by the Bangladesh government, UN and other aid agencies via a virtual donor conference from Geneva this week—has been pledged so far, amounting to USD 340 million. Last year, the UN appeal to meet the needs of the Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox's Bazar also met only 59.4 percent of its target funding. This reflects a worrying trend of diminishing international concern not only for the Rohingya, known to be one of the world's most persecuted communities, but also for Bangladesh, which generously provided shelter to the refugees when no other country in the region was willing to shoulder the responsibility.

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This year's appeal is aimed to protect and assist 1.4 million people, over half of whom are women and children, and more than 40 percent of the appeal focuses on food security and health. Not only is the international community failing to take a strong stance against the Myanmar military junta's crimes at home, they are now failing to show compassion and help provide the most basic needs of hundreds of thousands of refugees. We urge all international donors to show more solidarity and ensure the wellbeing of Rohingya refugees, and work towards their safe, dignified and voluntary return and reintegration in Myanmar.

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