UNB: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to search for new partners to increase the international fund for Rohingyas who have taken shelter in Bangladesh to escape persecution in Myanmar.
“Since the the assistance for Rohingyas has declined, the IOM should look for new partners to raise more funds for them,” she said.
The premier made this call when IOM Director General Amy Pope paid a courtesy call on her at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban.
PM’s Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.
During the meeting, they discussed the UN joint response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis as the international fund for supporting Rohingya refugees has significantly declined.
Hasina also asked IOM to help relocate more Rohingyas to Bhashanchar (island) from Cox’s Bazar camps as accommodation and livelihood facilities are there including self-employment, education for their children, healthcare services and infrastructures for some 100,000 people in Bhashanchar.
Some 30,000-35,000 Rohingyas have already relocated to Bhashanchar from Cox’s Bazar camps.
The IOM Director General who visited Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps on Monday raised the security issue in the camps.
In this context, the premier said now conflict continues in Myanmar and Rohingya people are also divided in different groups and sub-groups in the overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar. So, they are engaged in internal conflicts, she added.
Besides, the Rohingya people have outnumbered the host community in Cox’s Bazar. So, there are,conflicts for limited resources there, she said.
She, however, said adequate number of law enforcement agencies have been deployed to maintain the law and order in the Rohingya camps areas.