UN continues calling for urgent funding for Rohingyas

Even after one month of the crisis that began due to the atrocities by the Myanmar security forces in the Rakhine state, the United Nations continues pleading for urgent funding to look after the Rohingyas, prompting government officials to say that fund availability should be smooth without any difficulty.

While speaking to The Independent yesterday, they, however, said that there is no cause for concern yet. But, they added that perhaps the coordination among the donors and UN agencies is an ‘issue’ here which needs to be addressed for smooth and unhindered relief operations. Mohammed Shah Kamal, disaster management and relief secretary, told The Independent, “The UN agencies do not talk about funding with us.” The tasks have been distributed among the agencies, he said, adding that World Food Programme (WFP) has been given the responsibility of providing food, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with providing shelter and World Health Organisation (WHO) with health care.

“The ministry of disaster management and relief has been vested with the responsibility of coordinating the relief activities,” said the secretary.

To a question, he said, “I don’t think time has come to be worried about the funding issue.”

The UN is yet to know as to how much money will be required to conduct the operations of its agencies with regard to Rohingyas. UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh Robert Watkins said on Sunday night, “The scale of the needs is immense, and we urgently need funding to rapidly increase the support we are providing.”

UNHCR said yesterday that it urgently requires an estimated $30 million to respond to the ongoing emergency in Bangladesh. Some $6 million is immediately needed for shelter and core relief items for Rohingyas and much more needs to be done to meet the acute needs of children, women and men fleeing conflict, it said.

During regular briefings at the UN headquarters in New York, the spokesperson of the secretary-general speaks almost every day about the need for urgent funding to scale up the operations by different agencies of the global body. He, however, could not come up with any specific figure that might be required to maintain the operations regarding Rohingyas.

According to the office of the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, a preliminary response plan for $77 million was launched in August.

However, with the number of refugees having increased dramatically, this is currently being revised and a new plan and funding target will be launched at the beginning of October to support the refugees and the host communities for six months.

About the funding, the government officials said that at the onset of crisis when Bangladesh was not allowing the Rohingyas in, there have been repeated calls on Dhaka to open the border and that the international community is ready to support the country with its own challenges in hosting the persecuted people from Myanmar. “We hope the international community will live up to its pledges to ensure smooth operations,” said a senior official familiar with the process.

“Problem regarding funding is the last thing Bangladesh will want,” said another official. “I am sure there will be no problem regarding funding. Once the coordination between the donors and UN agencies will be worked out, things will be okay,” he said. Another official said, “The donors and UN agencies should formulate their funding policies keeping the future in mind.

UN continues calling for urgent funding for Rohingyas

Even after one month of the crisis that began due to the atrocities by the Myanmar security forces in the Rakhine state, the United Nations continues pleading for urgent funding to look after the Rohingyas, prompting government officials to say that fund availability should be smooth without any difficulty. While speaking to The Independent yesterday, they, however, said that there is no cause for concern yet. But, they added that perhaps the coordination among the donors and UN agencies is an issue here which needs to be addressed for smooth and unhindered relief operations. Mohammed Shah Kamal, disaster management and relief secretary, told The Independent, The UN agencies do not talk about funding with us. The tasks have been distributed among the agencies, he said, adding that World Food Programme (WFP) has been given the responsibility of providing food, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with providing shelter and World Health Organisation (WHO) with health care. The ministry of disaster management and relief has been vested with the responsibility of coordinating the relief activities, said the secretary. To a question, he said, I dont think time has come to be worried about the funding issue. The UN is yet to know as to how much money will be required to conduct the operations of its agencies with regard to Rohingyas. UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh Robert Watkins said on Sunday night, The scale of the needs is immense, and we urgently need funding to rapidly increase the support we are providing. UNHCR said yesterday that it urgently requires an estimated $30 million to respond to the ongoing emergency in Bangladesh. Some $6 million is immediately needed for shelter and core relief items for Rohingyas and much more needs to be done to meet the acute needs of children, women and men fleeing conflict, it said. During regular briefings at the UN headquarters in New York, the spokesperson of the secretary-general speaks almost every day about the need for urgent funding to scale up the operations by different agencies of the global body. He, however, could not come up with any specific figure that might be required to maintain the operations regarding Rohingyas. According to the office of the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, a preliminary response plan for $77 million was launched in August. However, with the number of refugees having increased dramatically, this is currently being revised and a new plan and funding target will be launched at the beginning of October to support the refugees and the host communities for six months. About the funding, the government officials said that at the onset of crisis when Bangladesh was not allowing the Rohingyas in, there have been repeated calls on Dhaka to open the border and that the international community is ready to support the country with its own challenges in hosting the persecuted people from Myanmar. We hope the international community will live up to its pledges to ensure smooth operations, said a senior official familiar with the process. Problem regarding funding is the last thing Bangladesh will want, said another official. I am sure there will be no problem regarding funding. Once the coordination between the donors and UN agencies will be worked out, things will be okay, he said. Another official said, The donors and UN agencies should formulate their funding policies keeping the future in mind.