World Bank approves 350-million-dollar grant for Rohingya Muslims
The World Bank has approved 350 million dollars in grants for Bangladesh to support hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in crowded refugee camps, the bank said on Wednesday.
The fund will be used for health services, social protection and infrastructure development in the camps, according to a press statement.
More than 1 million Rohingya Muslims, who fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar, have been living in one of the world’s largest refugee settlements located in south-eastern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar.
Of them, more than 740,000 crossed the border after Myanmar launched a military crackdown in what it called an anti-insurgency operation in August 2017.
Read also: World climate talks delayed due to coronavirus
Many Rohingya Muslims were allegedly tortured and killed and women raped during the clampdown, which was termed a textbook example of ethnic cleansing by the United Nations.
The bank’s country head for Bangladesh and Bhutan, Mercy Tembon, said the grants will cater to the needs of both the Rohingya and the local community, which was outnumbered by the 2017 exodus of refugees from across the border.
Forty multi-purpose disaster protection shelters, 4,000 solar street lights, 975 lightning protection systems and 250 kilometres of climate resilient roads are among the projects planned using the grants. (dpa)
