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BSS-37
US-MYANMAR-ROHINGYA-UPDATES
US calls Myanmar to create conditions for dignified Rohingya repatriation
Updates with Miller’s comments
DHAKA, Sept 25, 2019 (BSS) – The US has urged Myanmar to create conditions
inside Rakhine as per Rohingyas’ demands for ensuring safe and dignified
return to their motherland.
“We continue to call upon Burma (Myanmar) to create the conditions that
would allow Rohingyas voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable returns,
based on the informed consent of those who (Rohingyas) have been forcibly
displaced,” said a statement issued by the US Embassy in Dhaka today.
It said the US encourages Myanmar to work with Bangladesh to facilitate
the use of the Burmese curriculum to teach the Rohingyas who are currently
staying in Bangladesh.
“This will help facilitate the reintegration of Rohingya youths who choose
to return to Burma,” the statement said.
The USA made the call today in New York while announcing more than US$ 127
million in additional humanitarian assistance for Rohingyas and host
Bangladeshi communities and internally displaced Rohingya and members of
other affected communities in Myanmar, the statement said.
It said this funding will help address the emergency needs of some of the
more than 900,000 displaced people in Bangladesh, many of whom are Rohingya
women and children from Rakhine State as well as the related needs of
Bangladeshi host communities.
The USA remains the leading contributor to the humanitarian response to
this crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh, having provided more than $669 million
since the outbreak of violence in August 2017.
The US commends the Bangladesh government’s generosity in responding to
this humanitarian crisis and appreciates its continued efforts to ensure
assistance to reach the affected population.
“The US government remains committed to ensuring that humanitarian and
development assistance continues to reach the Bangladeshi communities who
have so generously hosted Rohingyas,” it said.
Acknowledging that the US cannot meet the crisis’ tremendous funding needs
alone, the statement said the US welcomes other UN member states humanitarian
contribution in recent months, and “We urge other countries and stakeholders
to do the same”.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador in Dhaka Earl Miller in another statement today
said since the start of the Rohingya crisis in 2017, the US has contributed
nearly US$ 542 million towards Rohingya people and it is the leading donor of
humanitarian assistance.
“Today, we pledge a new contribution of over US$ 127 million. US$ 89
million will go to programmes in Bangladesh, assisting both Rohingya people
and Bangladeshi host communities,” the US envoy said.
This new funding brings the total US contribution to more than US$ 669
million since the outbreak of violence in August 2017, he said, adding the
majority of those funds — more than US$ 553 million — is for programmes
inside Bangladesh.
Miller said the funding helps prepare Rohingyas for voluntary, safe, and
dignified repatriation when conditions in Myanmar are conducive to such
returns and it also provides assistance to Bangladeshi communities who are
hosting Rohingyas.
Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingya
population in Cox’s Bazar district and most of them arrived there since
August 25, 2017 after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a
“textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” by other rights groups.
BSS/PR/TA/MRI/ARS/RY/1902 hrs