Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday (May 07, 2024) urged the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to search for new partners to increase the international fund for Rohingyas who have taken shelter in Bangladesh to escape persecution in Myanmar.

“Since the the assistance for Rohingyas has declined, the IOM should look for new partners to raise more funds for them,” she said.

The premier made this call when IOM Director General Amy Pope paid a courtesy call on her at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban.

PM’s Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.

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During the meeting, they discussed the UN joint response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis as the international fund for supporting Rohingya refugees has significantly declined.  

 Hasina also asked IOM to help relocate more Rohingyas to Bhashanchar (island) from Cox’s Bazar camps as accommodation and livelihood facilities are there including self-employment, education for their children, healthcare services and infrastructures for some 100,000 people in Bhashanchar.

Some 30,000-35,000 Rohingyas have already relocated to Bhashanchar from Cox’s Bazar camps.

The IOM Director General who visited Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps on Monday raised the security issue in the camps.

In this context, the premier said now conflict continues in Myanmar and Rohingya people are also divided in different groups and sub-groups in the overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar. So, they are engaged in internal conflicts, she added.

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Besides, the Rohingya people have outnumbered the host community  in Cox’s Bazar. So, there are,conflicts for limited resources there, she said.

She, however, said adequate number of law enforcement agencies have been deployed to maintain the law and order in the Rohingya camps areas.

Talking about migration, IOM Director General Amy Pope stressed the need for imparting proper training to migrants on demand-driven skills, language and culture of the destination countries.

In response, the prime minister said her government has attached topmost priority to imparting training on trade-based skills and languages.

She said her government has taken up many programmes including a bank loan scheme for the welfare of expatriates.

“Both source and host countries should protect the interest of migrants as they contribute to both economies,” said Hasina.

Noting that migration is a natural process, she said if poverty reduces, the intensity of migrants would decline.

In this time, she mentioned the poverty rate has declined sharply in Bangladesh in the last 15 years and now the extreme poverty rate is only 5.6 percent here.

Talking about the internal migration, PM Hasina said people also migrated internally for the climate change as Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries for the climate change impacts. The people are being migrated internally for river erosion, flood and cyclone, she said.

She said her government gives houses to climate-induced refugees under the Ashrayan project. More than 4,000 climate refugees were already given abodes alone at Khurushkul in Cox's Bazar by construction of multi-storied buildings there, she cited.

The PM said her government also gives the homeless people the climate-resilient houses on the coastal areas and floating houses in flood-prone areas free of cost.

Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Md Ruhul Amin were present.