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EU releases €10.5 million in humanitarian aid for people in Myanmar and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Due to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, the EU has released €10.5 million in emergency aid to address the needs of people in Myanmar and of Rohingya refugees and their host communities living in Bangladesh. Out of this new funding, €7 million is allocated for Myanmar, and the remaining €3.5 million for Bangladesh.
In Myanmar, as the ongoing conflict is causing a very serious food security crisis, this additional allocation will serve to provide food and nutrition assistance, as well as other emergency aid. EU funding will also support partners providing healthcare and access to other essential services like water and sanitation.
In Bangladesh, the new funding will continue to support food and nutrition assistance, as food insecurity in the refugee camps remains a serious concern. It will also contribute to the provision of other basic services such as healthcare, water and sanitation, and education.
This new funding brings the total EU assistance to people in Myanmar and Rohingya refugees outside of the country to over €68 million in 2023.
Background
Following a military coup d'état in Myanmar in February 2021, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has risen from 1 million to over 18 million. Ongoing conflict and violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law keep driving up the number of refugees and internally displaced people. Myanmar has been named a ‘hunger hotspot' in a recent report by the UN's World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Meanwhile, more than 6 years after large-scale violence forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people to flee Rakhine State in Myanmar, Bangladesh still hosts almost 1 million refugees. Rohingya refugees live in precarious and deteriorating conditions, with the majority located in congested refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, where they are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.
The EU has been providing humanitarian aid to people in Myanmar since 1994, and in Bangladesh since 2002.
At the start of this year, the EU had already allocated €43 million to address the humanitarian needs of people in Myanmar, as well as those of Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh and across the region. Following cyclone Mocha's impact in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Commission released €2.5 million in emergency humanitarian aid and supported the Myanmar Red Cross Society to deliver immediate assistance. In June, an additional €12.5 million was released to address the deteriorating situation in Myanmar and increased food insecurity in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
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