UN launches appeal for Rohingyas, BD host communities

United Nations agencies and NGO partners have formally launched the 2018 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for displaced Rohingya people and Bangladeshi host communities.

The JRP is a US$951 million appeal to meet the urgent needs of nearly 900,000 Rohingyas living in Bangladesh and more than 330,000 vulnerable people in the host communities.

The funding will help in meeting the life-saving and acute humanitarian needs both of displaced people and of affected host communities.

More than half the appeal (54 per cent) is to ensure food, water and sanitation, shelter and other basic aid. Food needs alone account for 25 per cent of the total, said UNHCR in a statement.

The 2018 appeal for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis was launched on Friday in Geneva.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, IOM Director General William Swing and UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo jointly launched the JRP.

Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam joined the programme.

Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh remains engaged with Myanmar in good faith to ensure the safe and sustainable return of Rohingyas in addition to providing humanitarian assistance to them.

The State Minister underscored the importance of keeping international community's focus on the Rohingya crisis for ensuring a comprehensive sustainable solution.

He also separately held a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

Appreciating Bangladesh's role over Rohingya crisis, Filippo Grandi said, the solutions to this crisis lie inside Myanmar, and conditions must be established that will allow Rohingyas to return home.

"But today we are appealing for help with the immediate needs, and these needs are vast,” Filippo Grandi said.

IOM Director General William Swing said the needs and vulnerabilities of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh are immense.

UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said described people and government of Bangladesh as the biggest donor to this crisis.

So far, the emergency response from September 2017 to February 2018 has received 74 per cent of the funding needed (US$321 million of the US$434 million required).