Dwindling humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees threatens to exacerbate one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, the UN’s refugee chief said on Tuesday.
Bangladesh is home to around a million members of the mostly stateless minority, many of whom fled a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 that is now subject to a genocide probe at the International Criminal Court.
Frustration is widespread over the lack of progress in a repatriation deal, rampant lawlessness in the refugee settlements and cuts to international humanitarian aid.
Humanitarian assistance “is declining” amid crises in Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Israel, Filippo Grandi told reporters on the sidelines of a regional meeting.
“This is a crisis that should not be forgotten... If contributions decline, we are in trouble.”
The Rohingya crisis had only 42 percent of the $875.9 million funding needed this year, he said.
Budget cuts have forced the UN World Food Programme to steeply reduce humanitarian aid to the Rohingya camps this year, with funding for rations now at $8 per refugee per month.
Malnutrition in the sprawling camps is already rampant, rights groups say.
The United Kingdom’s Minister for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan announced a 4.5 million pound ($5.4 million) funding contribution on Tuesday.
Grandi said repatriation to Myanmar was still “Plan A,” even as he acknowledged many Rohingya were still afraid to return to the country where they are widely viewed as interlopers from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh and Myanmar are working on a pilot program to begin repatriating a limited number of Rohingya, despite concerns from rights groups who say conditions are not safe for their return.
Rohingya in Myanmar are denied citizenship and access to health care and require permission to travel outside of their townships.
Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing — who was head of the army during the crackdown — has dismissed the term Rohingya as “imaginary.”
“Plan B is the status quo, people continue to be in host countries... but this is not sustainable in the long term,” Grandi said.
UN refugee chief rallies support for Rohingya
https://arab.news/6cgu5
UN refugee chief rallies support for Rohingya
- Humanitarian assistance “is declining” amid crises in Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Israel
North Korean leader Kim watches cruise missile tests with his daughter
- KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast
SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to US-South Korean military drills.
Images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the two in a conference room looking at a screen showing weapons being fired from the Choe Hyon, a year-old naval destroyer.
Kim Jong Un watched the missiles launches via video on Tuesday and underscored the need to maintain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent,” KCNA reported in a dispatch that did not mention his daughter.
The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and about 13, has accompanied her father at numerous prominent events including military parades and weapons launches since late 2022. South Korea’s spy agency assessed last month Kim Jong Un was close to designating her as his heir.
KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast. It quoted Kim Jong Un as saying the launches were meant to demonstrate the navy’s strategic offensive posture and get troops familiarized with weapons firings.
Kim Jong Un observed similar cruise missile launches from the Choe Hyon in person last week, but his daughter was not seen at that appearance.
Tuesday’s missile firings came after the start of the springtime US-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned the drills reveal again the US and South Korea’s “inveterate repugnancy toward” North Korea. She said North Korea will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”
The 11-day Freedom Shield drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training program. North Korea often reacts to the two sets of training with its own weapons tests.
