Bangladesh has spent $628 million from its own resources to provide services to Rohingyas including infrastructure development in the camps, said Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque.
“In addition, 6,500 acres of forested land was made available for the Rohingya to build camps,” he said while delivering his statement at the plenary of first Global Refugee Forum held in Geneva on Wednesday (Dec 18).
“Bangladesh is currently hosting over a million forcibly displaced Rohingyas. Indeed a formidable challenge to Bangladesh impacting on our economy, society and environment,” he said.
The government is doing its best to take care of Rohingyas and have jointly innovated a ‘Joint Response Plan’ for multi-agency planning, fund raising and implementation, he added.
Appreciating the role of the international community to ensure sustainable return of Rohingyas, he said, “The responsibility to create conducive environment in Rakhine entirely lies on Myanmar. Instead of fulfilling own obligations, we see their frequent attempts to mislead the international community with fabricated information.”
He lamented that Myanmar tried to provide false information in the recently concluded hearing on the Gambia vs Myanmar case concerning Rohingya Genocide in the Hague.
“Voluntary repatriation with safety and dignity is the most effective solution of refugee crisis. Despite multiple MoUs with the Government of Myanmar very little has been achieved in terms of creating conducive condition for Rohignyas to return to their homeland,” the foreign secretary said.