DHAKA, Oct 22, 2020 – The United States (US) has announced
and host communities as well as internally displaced crisis-affected
groups inside Myanmar those who fled ethnic cleansing.
The announcement came while the United States, the United Kingdom,
the European Union, and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) conducted a
virtual conference today on Sustaining International Support for the
Rohingya Refugee Response.
“The US will continue to advocate for a sustainable solution that
creates the conditions for the voluntary, safe, dignified, and
sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and other displaced persons to
their places of origin or to a place of their choosing,” US Secretary
of State Michael R. Pompeo said in a statement.
The US, he said, is working with its partners to stop the cycle of
violence in Rakhine State, including by cooperating to end the
trafficking of weapons and narcotics that have contributed to
instability for so long.
In particular, Pompeo said, P5 members of the UN Security Council
have a special obligation to contribute to ending violence and aiding
the victims of violence.
“As a part of the United States’ global leadership in humanitarian
diplomacy, we continue to call on Burma (Myanamr) to provide
unhindered and sustained humanitarian access to anyone requiring
assistance,” he said.
The United States remains the most generous financial donor to the
Rohingya crisis response and acknowledges the efforts of Bangladesh to
host these refugees.
More broadly, he said, “We continue to partner with the people of
Burma, including members of other ethnic and religious minority
groups, in their efforts to work toward peace and prosperity”.
The US’s humanitarian assistance since the beginning of Fiscal Year
2020 totals more than $437 million, including nearly $46 million to
support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of that total, nearly $349 million is for programs inside
Bangladesh, including nearly $34 million to support response to
COVID-19, and nearly $85 million is for the response inside Burma,
including nearly $11 million to support COVID-19 response.
The UN has appealed for more than $1 billion in aid to meet the
humanitarian needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh this year.
