Arakan News Agency
The United Arab Emirates and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday signed an agreement worth 7.35 million AED (US $ 2 million) to support the “emergency feeding of Rohingya refugees women and children in Bangladesh.”
The signing of the agreement stems from the UAE’s constant position in such tragic cases to provide humanitarian aid to the vulnerable people of the world and their action on the international scene to take care of the lives of those in need and the marginalized who have been affected by armed conflicts and natural disasters without discrimination or prejudice to race.
And in response to the joint response plan of the United Nations regarding Rohingya crisis last March, which seeks financial support to help 1.3 million people, including 884,000 Rohingya refugees and 336,000 host communities by the end of this year.
The funding is intended to provide treatment for 132,000 refugees, including 78,000 women and children living in Cox-Bazar camp and its new communities.
This support will also help UNHCR and its partners to reduce the number of deaths from moderate malnutrition through life-saving food interventions and enhanced planning, response and effective monitoring of emergency nutrition, as well as the development of nutrition needs assessment and analysis.
The agreement was signed by Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for International Development in the UAE, and Toby Harward, Director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office in the UAE.
The agreement aims to support the project “Emergency Nutrition for Rohingya Refugee Women and Children in Bangladesh” during the period from March 2018 to December 2018, in the amount of $ 2 million, more than one third of 37% of UNHCR’s urgent needs for the total project cost of $ 5.4 million to address poor Nutrition and risks associated with the malnutrition of Rohingya refugees, focusing particularly on refugee women and children in camps and new settlements.
Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi said that UAE foreign aid policy is in line with the initiatives of “The Year of 2018” and an integral part of the UAE’s philanthropic approach to humanitarian issues in general and refugees and displaced persons in particular, especially to the most vulnerable groups such as children and women.
He added that since the escalation of the displacement of Rohingya in August, a number of humanitarian organizations in the UAE rushed to provide emergency aid, including food, relief and health to contribute to the daily needs of refugees, the total value of UAE assistance provided $ 6.7 million since August 2017 to March 2018.
For his part, Toby Harward, Director of the UNHCR Office in UAE, praised the efforts of the UAE towards humanitarian issues in general and the issue of refugees and displaced persons in particular by providing various support, especially financial support, which contributes to support the capacities of UNHCR and its partners Her suffering.
“There are huge numbers of Rohingya refugees suffering from acute malnutrition, especially among children under the age of five,” he said. “Such a generous donation by the UAE will save a lot of lives and help UNHCR and its partners provide better nutrition services to Rohingya refugees. “he said.
Since 25th August 2017, more than 655,000 people, including 355,000 children, have been forced to flee Myanmar’s Arakan province in search of safe haven in Bangladesh, making the Rohingya refugee crisis the fastest growing in the world. 213,000 Rohingy refugees who fled to Bangladesh in previous waves of displacement.
