The United States has formally announced that it had adopted the third country resettlement initiative for Rohingya from Bangladesh while it took last week 24 of them in a symbolic response to Dhaka's request.
"The United States is pleased to announce the establishment of a resettlement programme for vulnerable Rohingyas in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)," said a media note referring office of the spokesperson of the US department of State, distributed by US embassy in Dhaka on Thursday.
The United States will consider for resettlement referrals submitted by the UNHCR, reports BSS citing the media note.
It said that this initiative, which will be part of the global US Refugee Admissions Program, is one element of a broader comprehensive response to the Rohingya refugee crisis with the main focus on preparing the Rohingya for voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return.
"We thank the Government of Bangladesh as a generous host of refugees and for their support of this important resettlement initiative," said the note.
It said the resettlement of most vulnerable Rohingya from Bangladesh reflects the United States' long-standing leadership on refugee resettlement in the face of an unprecedented displacement crisis as record numbers of people around the world have been forced to flee war, persecution, and instability.
"The US is also supporting efforts to hold the perpetrators of the genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya accountable and to ensure justice for the victims of these atrocities," said the State Department.
The note further said the US is proud of its long-standing support for displaced Rohingya, who have suffered genocide and crimes against humanity at the hands of Myanmar's military.
"We have provided more than $1.9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees from Burma in Bangladesh and the region, those affected by ongoing violence in Burma, and communities hosting refugees from Burma," it added.
In addition to supporting immediate basic needs, the note mentioned that the UIS humanitarian assistance strengthens the resilience, economic security, and dignity of Rohingyas and host communities by improving education and livelihood opportunities.
Bangladesh Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen earlier compared the US ressentiment endeavour as like a "drop in the ocean" as the US informed Dhaka it would take some Rohingyas from Bangladesh every year while shortlisted only 62 of them for the first batch.
Along with the US, Momen said that he had also urged Britain and Japan to share Bangladesh's burden of a huge number of Rohingyas.
The foreign minister told the newsmen that he suggested that each of these countries could take at least 0.10 million of the forcibly displaced people who fled their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state amid a military-backed racial crackdown in 2017.
Despite repeated insistence Myanmar so far did not take back a single Rohingyas, defying their assurances.
Since August 25 in 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting over 1.2 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district and most of them arrived there after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and other rights groups dubbed as "genocide".
The Bangladesh government has been urging the developed nations to take factions of Rohingyas from Bangladesh as third-country resettlement while repatriation attempts to Myanmar were repeatedly failed.