Bangladesh can no longer spare additional resources to support the growing number of Rohingya refugees, interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said on Monday, urging.
The international community to honour its commitments under the UN framework. Speaking at a two-day conference in Cox’s Bazar, Yunus warned that the country has reached its limit, with over 1.3 million Rohingya crammed into 33 camps in the coastal district — the world’s largest refugee settlement. More than 150,000 new arrivals have been registered since last year, even as global aid dwindles.
The UN-led Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis has received only 36 percent of its nearly $935 million target for 2025-26, leaving a widening funding gap. Yunus said Bangladesh, already under economic strain, “does not foresee any scope whatsoever for further mobilization of resources from domestic sources.”
He noted that host communities in Cox’s Bazar have made “tremendous sacrifices” over the past eight years, as the influx has strained the economy, resources, environment and governance. Yunus stressed that the Rohingya issue “must remain on the global agenda until they can return home.”
Repatriation efforts have stalled amid ongoing conflict in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine state where clashes between the military junta and the Arakan Army have intensified. Yunus called for a “practical roadmap” to end violence, ensure safe returns, and hold perpetrators accountable through international legal mechanisms including the ICJ and ICC.
The Cox’s Bazar conference comes ahead of a high-level UN General Assembly meeting in September and another donor gathering in Doha in December. Donors are also set to visit Rohingya camps during the conference. Regional pressure is growing, with ASEAN recently announcing plans to send a peace mission to Myanmar.
“As global consensus at the UN Security Council remains unlikely, alternative advocacy and regional efforts must be explored,” rights and migration expert Asif Munier told Arab News, stressing that accountability and justice must remain central to any resolution.
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