The UK is giving a new aid package to Rohingya refugees sheltering in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasanchar to ensure healthcare, clean water and cooking fuel. The country announced a new fund of 3 million pounds (3.7 million US dollars) for refugees.
Sir Philip Burton, Permanent Under-Secretary of the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office based in Dhaka, said, “I am pleased to announce another £300,000 UK grant for refugees. He said this new assistance will help ensure health care, clean water, hygiene and sanitation services and cooking fuel to the refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasanchar.
The funding will be provided by the UK through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“We are pushing for a long-term solution that will enable refugees to return to Myanmar in safety and dignity,” Burton said. Until then, the UK remains committed to supporting Rohingya refugees and local communities in Bangladesh.
More than 1.2 million Rohingya forcibly displaced from Myanmar live in densely populated camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh and Bhasanchar on the Bay of Bengal. Most of the Muslim refugees fled a brutal army crackdown in August 2017 in Rakhine state on the west coast of Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Burton, who is in Dhaka to attend the fifth UK-Bangladesh Strategic Dialogue, said the dialogue reflects the two countries’ shared commitment to building a modern economic, trade and security partnership.
