Dhaka: The UN Refugee Agency on Monday said that only 14 per cent of the $920 million needed has been pledged so far in response to its new plan to support 900,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh.
Khaled Khalifa, agency’s representative for Gulf countries, said the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Muslim minority refugees had to compete with other emergencies for funding, Efe news reported.
“Unfortunately, most response plans around the world are under-funded, which means the refugees and people in need don’t receive the optimum service we hope to provide them,” Khalifa said.
“(It’s) a sad situation that emergencies compete for funding and for visibility in the media. We are hoping the JRP will receive higher level of funding than last year,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official.
“Until now, the plan is funded 14 per cent only. This is a small percentage. In 2018, by the end of the year the plan was funded 64 per cent,” he said. Last year, the JRP raised $655 million against a target of $950 million.
The UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in February launched a campaign to raise $920 million for a new plan to aid Rohingyas in Bangladesh. Most refugees live under harsh conditions in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area near the Myanmar border, which has become the biggest refugee camp in the world. (IANS)
