Dhaka: The United Nations grant of US $33 million to Bangladesh for a poverty alleviation programme rewards the country's decades of hospitality to Burmese refugees, according to a report of the UNHCR in Bangladesh.
The programme is a joint initiative of the United Nations, led by UNICEF, to combat poverty in districts in Bangladesh, which hosts refugees and it was launched in February 2010. The report added that the programme should see the investment of $33 million in the area by the end of 2011.
Other participating agencies are the World Food Program, the UN Development Program, and the UN Population Fund, all closely supported by UNHCR.
Over the next two years, the initiative aims to reduce poverty by five per cent annually, by improving medical, water, and sanitation facilities, providing better schools, reducing chronic food shortages, and creating jobs, the report said.
As part of its efforts to improve life for the local community, the UNHCR recently spent US $200,000 to improve six schools for Bangladeshis living near the two refugee camps southeast of Cox's Bazaar, the latest in more than 140 infrastructure projects UNHCR has funded for the local population since 1993.
"The government and the people of Bangladesh have hosted refugees from [Burma] for over 19 years, and have shown great hospitality," said Craig Sanders, UNHCR's representative in Bangladesh. "We want to make sure to show that we are here to help not just refugees, but the host community as well," he added.
The UNHCR also provided two ambulances in the townships of Teknaf and Oknia hosting refugees, to transport patients between the two towns and to Cox's Bazaar for proper treatment.
The two ambulances are just one element of the UN refugee agency's support for the local communities that have welcomed Rohingya refugees from Burma for decades, the report stated.
According to a local source, there were recently some protests against Rohingya refugees by local Bangladeshis in Teknaf and Okia, as many believe the country is burdened by the Burmese refugees.
People in the area also formed the "Rohingya Resistance Committee" on 4 January this year opposing the Rohingya refugees hosted by the Bangladesh government, claiming the refugees have been creating numerous problems in the local areas.
The UN programme may also be an effort to ease tensions and turn anti-refugee sentiment that has been increasing against Rohingya staying in Bangladesh for decades.
In Bangladesh, there are 28,000 Rohingya refugees living in two refugee camps in Teknaf and Okia Townships, with another 200,000 refugees estimated to be staying outside the refugee camps.
