Canada has unveiled its strategy to step up its response and meet the needs of Rohingyas who are displaced and most vulnerable.
This comprehensive strategy, unveiled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday, is based on recommendations highlighted in the final report from the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae.
The grave humanitarian and security crisis in Myanmar is a global tragedy, which has led more than 717,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Rakhine State and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, says a press release issued by Canadian High Commission in Dhaka.
Guided by the Feminist International Assistance Policy, the strategy places a central emphasis on the needs of women and girls, and puts forward concrete and timely initiatives to promote human rights, gender equality, human dignity, and peace and security in the region.
Canada will lead on several initiatives, including those to improve living conditions of Rohingya refugees in camps and settlements. We will support efforts to bring perpetrators of gross human rights violations to account, and to achieve a political solution to the plight of the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar. We will also help coordinate international efforts to address the crisis.
Canada will dedicate significant funding – $300 million over three years – to address the region’s humanitarian, development, and stabilization needs in a coordinated and timely way.
Canada was one of the first countries to respond to the crisis, and remains one of the top humanitarian donors. This strategy builds on our current efforts, and represents our commitment to do more while continuing to work closely with the international community and the United Nations on a path forward.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Trudeau said, “Canada will not stand idle while hundreds of thousands of people – Rohingya communities and other minorities – suffer gross human rights violations. We share a global responsibility to respond to this crisis.”