Chief Adviser Yunus has described the cut in donor funding as a serious challenge, saying that it has already caused school closures and the loss of thousands of jobs for Rohingya teachers.
“This is a disaster. Education in the camps provided a glimmer of hope for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children. Our concern is for these children, who are growing up as angry young people, and that anger could erupt in unpredictable ways,” Yunus told Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell.
The conversation took place on Monday in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, according to Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, reports UNB.
Their meeting centred on the Rohingya crisis and the funding crisis that is hampering relief operations for more than a million refugees in Bangladesh.
Russell described the international funding environment, pointing out that even donor countries in Europe, which traditionally contributed generously, are now cutting back support to agencies like Unicef.
The Unicef director urged Bangladesh to introduce training schemes for Rohingya youth so they can make use of their skills once conditions allow their return to Myanmar.
Unicef Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, also present in the talks, said education had already brought measurable improvements among refugee children in Cox’s Bazar. “The level of education among Rohingya children has increased significantly,” he noted.
The meeting also addressed the upcoming high-level Rohingya conference at the UN headquarters on Tuesday. Yunus urged Unicef to use the occasion to advocate strongly for the continuation and expansion of education initiatives in the camps.
SDGs Affairs Principal Coordinator and Senior Secretary Lamiya Morshed and senior leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP) Tasnim Jara were present.
