The United Kingdom is contributing an additional £4.5 million to sustain the Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh, lifting its funding from the start of the crisis in August 2017 to a total of £345 million.
This additional support to WFP (£3m) and UNICEF (£1.5m) will provide food, water, sanitation, and child protection to Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, the British High Commission in Dhaka said on Sunday in a statement.
“The UK remains committed to supporting Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh. This new UK assistance will provide vital food, water, sanitation, and protection to Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char,” High Commissioner Robert Chatterton Dickson was quoted as saying.
“The UK continues to push for a long-term solution that will enable the Rohingya to return to Myanmar on a safe, voluntary and dignified basis, when the conditions there allow. We will continue to provide support to the Rohingya whilst they remain in Bangladesh.”
This new UK support will provide: food assistance to 219,000 Rohingya refugees, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for 46,000 Rohingya refugees, 8,500 menstrual hygiene kits for Rohingya women and adolescent girls, and protection support to 1,500 children and adolescents from the refugee camps and host communities.
Bangladesh is giving shelter to over 1.1 million Rohingyas who fled ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the Rakhine State.