UN aid chief: No progress on returning Rohingya to Myanmar
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian chief said there has been “no progress” in dealing with the reasons why more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh from western Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Mark Lowcock, who just returned from a visit to Bangladesh, said Monday that Myanmar has failed “to put in place confidence-building measures that would persuade people it’s safe to go back.”
He said all the refugees he spoke to didn’t think it was safe to return, and want to be assured of things like freedom of movement and access to education, jobs and services.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and they are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.
The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel in August 2017 in northern Rakhine. Myanmar’s military responded with a brutal campaign and is accused of mass rape, killings and the burning of thousands of homes that critics have described as ethnic cleansing, or even genocide.
Lowcock said he is “extremely worried” that the U.N. appeal for $962 million to provide for the Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh this year is only 17% funded.
“I think the world may be losing interest,” he said. “Last year, we got 70% what we asked for. We’re running way behind.”
He warned that “if we don’t get financed, the consequences will be serious” for the provision of such things as food rations and health services.
Edith M. Lederer is an Associated Press writer.