The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday called for more financial assistance from humanitarian partners as an additional 1,50,000 Rohingya people from Myanmar arrived in Bangladesh鈥檚 Cox鈥檚 Bazar in the last 18 months.
In a press release from Geneva, the UNHCR warns that unless additional funds are secured, health services across the Cox鈥檚 Bazar-based Rohinyga camps will be severely disrupted by September. Moreover, food assistance for the camp dwellers will stop by December, and education for some 2,30,000 children, including 63,000 new arrivals is at risk of being discontinued.
鈥楳ore humanitarian support is urgently required as the new arrivals are largely dependent on the solidarity of those living in the camps, overstretching severely diminished resources,鈥� the release said.
In Cox鈥檚 Bazar, these new arrivals join another nearly 10 lakh (one million) Rohingyas crammed into just 24 square kilometres, making the camps one of the world鈥檚 most densely populated places.
Among the new arrivals, nearly 1,21,000 have been biometrically identified by the end of June, with more believed to be residing informally in the already overcrowded camps, said the release, adding that the overwhelming majority are women and children.
Biometric identification allows humanitarian partners in Bangladesh to provide the new arrivals with basic services, including food, medical care, education and essential relief items.
The UNHCR press release mentions that the ongoing conflict, targeted violence and persecution in Myanmar鈥檚 Rakhine state continued to force thousands of Rohingyas to seek protection in Bangladesh.
The movement of Rohingyas into Bangladesh, spread over the 18 months, is the largest from Myanmar since 2017, when some 7,50,000 fled deadly violence in their native Rakhine state.