Bangladesh, UN sign MoU on Rohingya

The government and the United Nations (UN) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a common protection and policy framework for a humanitarian response to the Rohingyas living in Bhasan Char.

The MoU was signed between the disaster management and relief ministry and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on behalf of the UN agencies working on the Rohingya response in Bangladesh, at the Secretariat on Saturday.

It is a further expression of the generosity of the government and the Bangladesh people and their support towards the Rohingya population until the latter can return safely and sustainably to Myanmar, said a UNHCR press release after the MoU signing programme.

The MoU is also a reconfirmation of the UN’s commitment to continue supporting Bangladesh in leading the humanitarian programme for almost 900,000 forcefully displaced Rohingyas in the country, it said.

The agreement relating to Bhasan Char allows close cooperation between the government and the UN regarding services and activities to benefit the increasing number of Rohingyas living on the island.

The MoU covers key areas of protection, education, skills and training, and livelihoods and health, which will help support the Rohingyas to lead a decent life on the island and better prepare them for their sustainable return to Myanmar in the future. The UN response will build up and complement the humanitarian assistance so far provided by Bangladeshi non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the island, said the release.

Prior to signing the MoU, the UN held discussions with the Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazar and those already on the island to better understand their needs and views.

These discussions, as well as those with government counterparts and Bangladeshi NGOs working on the island, are expected to continue on a regular basis and further inform any humanitarian and protection responses on Bhasan Char, said the UNHCR.

The statement said the UN encourages the international community to increase its generous support to the humanitarian response in Bangladesh, recognising that the Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Response in Cox’s Bazar currently has less than half the fund it requires for this year.

This support should continue until the Rohingyas are able to return to Myanmar in a safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable manner, which remains a shared priority of the UN and the government of Bangladesh, as well as the desire of the Rohingyas in the country, it added.

Bangladesh Navy has implemented the Ashryan-3 project on Bhashan Char, an island of the Bay of Bengal, at a cost of Tk 3,100 crore for accommodating 100,000 Rohingyas.

So far, nearly 20,000 Rohingyas have been relocated to the island from Cox’s Bazar.

A total of 120 brick-built cluster villages; 120 cyclone shelters; facilities for education, hospital, farming, and fishing; playground; and the presence of law enforcers make the island a much better living place for the Rohingyas than the Cox’s Bazar camps.

Since August 25 in 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar.

Most of them arrived there after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and other rights groups dubbed “genocide”.

Bangladesh has so far provided the Myanmar authorities with biometric data of 8,30,000 Rohingyas while the latter has verified only 42,000.

Myanmar, however, is yet to take back even a single Rohingya in the last four years while repatriation attempts failed twice due to trust deficit among the Rohingyas about their safety and security in the Rakhine state.