United Nations Secretary General António Guterres has called on the international community to urgently provide humanitarian support for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in dire conditions in Bangladeshi refugee camps.
“These people desperately need support to live with dignity here in Bangladesh,” Guterres told reporters on Friday during his visit to a Rohingya refugee camp in the south-eastern district of Cox’s Bazar.
Condemning recent cuts in humanitarian aid by Western nations, the UN chief described the reductions as a “crime” and pledged to engage with countries to secure sufficient funding.
Guterres, who arrived in Bangladesh on Thursday for a four-day official visit, travelled to the camps to witness first-hand the hardships faced by the Rohingya community. He also talked to Rohingya women, community leaders and members of the aid agencies at the camp.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya gathered at a locally organized rally during his visit, holding placards, including one that read: “UN, take us back home.”
In a show of solidarity, Guterres along with Bangladesh’s interim administration chief Muhammad Yunus, participated in an iftar – the evening meal breaking the daily fast during Ramadan – alongside refugees.
Bangladesh currently hosts more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims in sprawling camps in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char, an offshore island in the Bay of Bengal. They fled violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, with over 750,000 Rohingya crossing the border after a brutal military crackdown in August 2017. All of them rely entirely on humanitarian assistance.
Earlier this month, the UN’s World Food Programme warned that without adequate funding, food rations could be cut from $12.50 to just $6 per person per month.