United Nations: The US will provide more than 185 million dollars in additional humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh, including funding for the Rohingya refugees as well as for supporting critical emergency services.
The new funding will support the implementation of critical emergency services, including protection, emergency shelter, food, water, sanitation, health care, and psychosocial support. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced on Monday that the US will provide more than USD 185 million in additional humanitarian assistance, of which USD156 million would go to refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, taking its total humanitarian aid for the crisis to nearly USD 389 million in the past year.
"The United States is proud to be the leading donor of life-saving assistance to displaced persons, refugees, and host communities in Burma and Bangladesh. Still more needs to be done, so we need other countries to do their part as well," Haley said during a ministerial-level meeting on Myanmar.
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian co-hosted the High-Level Event on the Rohingya Crisis on the margins of the 73rd session of the General Assembly.
Haley, who is the highest ranking Indian-American in the Donald Trump administration, said the US continues to call on the Myanmar government to do more to hold those who have engaged in ethnic cleansing accountable for their atrocities, end the violence, and allow full humanitarian and free press access. She also voiced appreciation for Bangladesh's unwavering generosity in hosting and caring for the refugees.
A Myanmar military crackdown unleashed in the western state of Rakhine last year after attacks by Rohingya militants on police and army posts drove more than 700,000 of the largely stateless minority across the border with Bangladesh. Bangladesh now hosts nearly one million refugees, most of whom are Rohingya women and children who have taken refuge since the start of the violence. Ministers from Myanmar and Bangladesh were joined by high level attendees from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey and the US.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgenerand UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner also participated in the event. Co-Chairs Hunt and Le Drian agreed that the plight of the Rohingya was one of the largest refugee crises in recent history and one of the most pressing human rights and humanitarian crises facing the international community today, according to a press release from the UK government.
They noted also the Fact-Finding Mission's conclusion that the perpetrators of crimes must be held to account. Since August 2017 these have led to the displacement of over 723,000 Rohingya who are now residing in Bangladesh.
The Co-Chairs acknowledged the ruling of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber that the Court may exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh as well as over the alleged crime against humanity. They also called for the immediate release of the two Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Ooo as well as for the respect for their fundamental rights.
They regretted that conditions in Rakhine State were not yet conducive for the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable repatriation of refugees to Rakhine.
