EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, has announced additional aid as more and more refugees arrive in Bangladesh from Myanmar.
The European Commission announced €3 million additional aid for both Bangladesh and Myanmar to address the most pressing needs of Rohingya civilians.
The funding comes on top of the €12 million announced in May 2017 when Commissioner Stylianides visited Rakhine State in Myanmar, reports bdnews24.
"The European Union is providing further emergency humanitarian aid as the situation continues to be critical. This additional funding will help provide emergency shelter, water, food and health assistance for newly arrived refugees in Bangladesh and people in need in Myanmar, as soon as humanitarian access to the latter is restored,” the Commissioner said.
The EU continues to call for full humanitarian access and the respect for international human rights law in Myanmar.
“The immediate restoration of humanitarian assistance in northern Rakhine State is needed in order to address what is already a precarious humanitarian situation, and to avoid an escalation of the crisis,” Stylianides said, thanking Bangladesh for its hospitality in sheltering many refugees.
“The European Union remains committed to support those who are forced to flee their homes during these difficult times”.
As with all EU humanitarian aid, this new funding will be channelled impartially by international NGOs, the United Nations, or the Red Cross to the affected populations.
The European Union has raised its concerns last Friday directly to the Myanmar government.
EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini in a separate statement said she was following the dramatic developments in Rakhine State.
“As I stated in my statement a few days ago, the priority is now to obtain immediate humanitarian access again, and to address in parallel the root causes of the conflict by implementing the Annan Advisory Commission recommendations to this end.
“On both accounts we were reassured that there will be implementing steps this week, which I expect to happen,” she said.
“We are in close contact with Bangladeshi authorities and are stepping up our humanitarian engagement there.”
