Dhaka: Bangladesh plans to relocate 20,000 Rohingya refugees to the United States each year, with the goal of moving 200,000 over the next decade, according to Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain.
Speaking on Monday, Hossain recognised that, while the figure may appear little, it provides optimism for a significant long-term solution.
The resettlement effort is now in its trial phase, with a few hundred migrants transported at a time.
To date, approximately 2,500 Rohingyas have been picked, and the process is being expedited.
The Rohingya crisis began on August 25, 2017, when Myanmar’s military launched a violent assault on the Rohingya people in Rakhine State, forcing them to escape to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries, including India.
Within months, 750,000 Rohingyas sought safety in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya-Teknaf district, joining the 400,000 who were already in camps, according to Bangladesh News 24.
Under international criticism, Myanmar’s then-government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pledged to take back the Rohingyas by the end of the year, and the arrangement was formalised in a bilateral deal with Bangladesh in September 2017.
However, repatriation efforts stalled in 2019 due to a lack of trust in Myanmar’s pledges, and the COVID-19 pandemic further hampered the process.
The situation deteriorated after Myanmar’s military government, commanded by General Min Aung Hlaing, deposed Suu Kyi in February 2021, delaying repatriations.
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With civil war raging in Myanmar and new Rohingya immigration announced, repatriation talks have stopped. Despite these hurdles, the US government has begun slowly resettling Rohingya refugees since December 2022, with approximately 2,500 already moved.
Hossain highlighted that while repatriation is now impossible, stability is required for any future process, and international cooperation will be critical in resolving the problem.
In May of this year, the US Embassy in Bangladesh issued a press release stating that the US, through the Department of State Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration and USAID, provided an additional $30.5 million in assistance to Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bhasan Char, and the surrounding region. This funding included life-saving support for healthcare, nutrition, clean water, shelter, and self-sufficiency measures to reduce reliance on humanitarian aid.
The statement added that the United States was the single greatest giver of humanitarian aid to individuals affected by the Rohingya issue in Burma, Bangladesh, and the area. Until the press conference, cumulative US support for the crisis had reached roughly $2.4 billion since August 2017, with more than $1.9 billion going to refugees and host communities in Bangladesh.
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–IANS
(File photo: Xinhua)
