Rohingya crisis needs political solution: UN envoy

The visiting UN Secretary General’s Humanitarian Envoy, Dr Ahmed Al Meraikhi today urged all quarters to work together for resolving the Rohingya crisis, saying humanitarian aid or action is not the only way to find the solution.

“I have always said humanitarian aid or action is not the only solution … we have to work together. It’s important to have a political solution,” he said at a press briefing organised by the UN Bangladesh Office at a city hotel, reports BSS.

However, he said, the UN will continue the humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh until any solution of the crisis is taken place.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore also spoke at the press conference that was arranged following their two-day joint mission to Cox’s Bazar on February 25-26.

“We must agree now, and collectively, to invest in this generation of Rohingya children, so that they can better navigate their lives today, and be a constructive part of rebuilding Myanmar’s social fabric when they are able to return,” said Meraikhi.

Henrietta Fore said a generation of Rohingya children and young people cannot be left without education and skills to build a life for them. If they become self sustaining, their communities will also become self-sustaining and flourish, she added.

“With the right investment, the Rohingyas can be an asset to their community and to the world” she said.

UNICEF Bangladesh has appealed for $152 million in 2019 to provide 685,000 Rohingya people and host community residents with critical support, Henrietta Fore said, adding, “As of this February, we are 29% funded against our appeal,” she said.

She said the priority for 2019 is to reach older adolescents (Rohingya) through learning programmes to boost their foundational skills in literacy and numeracy as well as relevant vocational skills.

UNICEF is now reaching 155,000 children aged 4-14 with a learning programme that is progressively including higher quality and more structured learning and skills under the massive humanitarian effort led by the government of Bangladesh with international support aiming to save countless children’s lives.

More than 700,000 Rohingyas crossed into Bangladesh from Rakhine since August last year when Myanmar launched there a brutal military crackdown.