US announces $199m in additional aid for Rohingyas, Bangladesh host communities

BSS, Dhaka Tribune, 25 September, 2024

The United States (US) has announced an additional $199 million in humanitarian assistance to support Rohingyas and host communities in Bangladesh and across the region.

US Department of State Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya made the announcement at a Rohingya-focused side event during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level week in New York, according to a press release received on Wednesday.

The new aid package includes over $129 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and nearly $70 million from the US Department of State.

The assistance is aimed at addressing the urgent needs of more than 610,000 Rohingyas facing acute food insecurity, with USAID’s contribution including $78 million from the US Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation.

This will help purchase, ship, and distribute approximately 52,200 tons of food commodities from American farmers to affected communities in Bangladesh.

The funding will also support international organizations such as the International Rescue Committee, Unicef, and the UN World Food Program in providing critical food, nutrition, and protection assistance to both Rohingya refugees and the host communities in Cox’s Bazar.

The US government has contributed over $2.5 billion to the regional response, including more than $2.1 billion to Bangladesh alone since the Rohingya crisis began in 2017.

The US continues to call on other international donors to step up their contributions to address the critical funding gaps and meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations impacted by the crisis.

Since August 25 in 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting over million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district and most of them arrived there after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and other rights groups dubbed it as "genocide".

In the last seven years, not a single Rohingya went back home.

Myanmar agreed to take them back, but the repatriation attempts failed twice due to trust deficit among the Rohingyas about their safety and security in Rakhine state.