“Over half of the Rohingya refugees under 18 years of age and the conflict have left many women having to look after their families alone. So the priority of this €15 million support package will be on the needs of children, young people, female-headed households and families," said Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica.

The EU has so far made available €65 million in humanitarian assistance, EU Embassy in Dhaka said on Tuesday.

It has been providing substantial political, development and humanitarian support in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis from the outset. 

The support will deliver on the medium-term development needs of the refugees and their host communities in the Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh.

It will focus on community development, social cohesion, mitigating risks of tensions, as well as gender equality. 

The above-mentioned support measures will help to make these communities more resilient – an approach also recognised by the Global Compact on Refugees (link is external), which is expected to be adopted before the end of 2018 and to be subsequently endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly. 

The EU welcomed the World Bank's recent pledge of development support (link is external) and encourages other development donors to follow suit.