Bangladesh urges UN aid as 1.2 million Rohingya await safe return

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman told the UN General Assembly that his country has been sheltering more than 1.2 million forcibly displaced Rohingya from Myanmar for over nine years, and urged the international community to continue humanitarian support and help ensure their safe return.

Addressing the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Rahman said the refugee situation had put heavy strain on Bangladesh and warned that failure to ensure justice for the Rohingya could deepen the crisis.

"This has placed immense pressure on our resources, environment, security and local communities," Rahman said. He added, "As a densely populated country, Bangladesh believes that the source and origin of the Rohingya crisis lie in Myanmar. Therefore, its solution also lies there. The only solution to this problem is the early safe return of the displaced Rohingya people to their homeland, Myanmar."

Bangladesh has hosted successive waves of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar since the late 1970s. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees are now living in Bangladesh, most of them in camps in the Cox's Bazar area. A large number arrived after August 2017, when more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's Rakhine state following a military crackdown amid widespread violence and human rights abuses.

Bangladesh has consistently said the long-term solution lies in the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar, while the UN has said conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine state have not been suitable for sustainable returns. Bangladesh and the UN have also stressed the need for continued international humanitarian support for the refugees and the communities hosting them. Rahman urged the United Nations and the wider international community to continue life-saving assistance programmes until the Rohingya can return to Myanmar, saying, "If the international community fails to ensure justice for the displaced Rohingya people, this could turn into a humanitarian crisis in the near future."

In his address, Rahman underlined Bangladesh's continued burden in hosting Rohingya refugees, renewed his call for sustained global assistance, and said their only solution lies in an early and safe return to Myanmar.