Bangladesh should not bear the burden of more than one million Rohingya refugees alone while UN agencies are facing challenges to feed them, a United Nations official said.
Olivier De Schutter, a UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, made the statement on Monday at the end of a 12-day trip to Bangladesh, where he visited camps sheltering the refugees from Myanmar.
He said the international response to meet the funds needed to support the refugees is “grossly insufficient”.
About US$876mil (RM4.03bil) is needed to support the community for a year, but only 17% of that has been pledged to date, he said, calling it “scandalous” at a news conference in Dhaka.
“Bangladesh should not be left to shoulder the burden of the presence of the refugees alone. These (UN) agencies should be much better supported in their work,” De Schutter said.
He said the World Food Programme was forced in May to reduce the value of the monthly food vouchers it gives to each refugee from US$12 to US$10 (RM55 to RM46). It will be reduced further to US$8 (RM37) on June 1, he said.
“In a context in which food inflation this year was about 8%, that means that in the camps, children are undernourished,” De Schutter said.
“The rates of malnutrition will increase. The rates of stunting will increase. The development of the child in that context will be endangered.”
More than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh starting in late August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a “clearance operation” against them following attacks by a rebel group.
The safety situation in Myanmar has worsened following the military takeover two years ago.
Bangladesh is currently working with China to begin repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar as a pilot case.
The UN said earlier that they were aware of such a move but were not part of it.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she would not force any refugees to move to Myanmar. — AP
