Hossen Sohel: Oxfam, an international agency, yesterday called for 15 percent of new funding to be set aside for humanitarian programmes designed to better support Rohingya women and girls, including $72 million of the nearly half a billion dollars recently committed by the World Bank, reports UNB.
The Rohingya women living in Bangladesh are developing health problems, missing out on aid and are at the greater risk of abuse due to unsafe and unsuitable facilities in many parts of the refugee camps, Oxfam warned.
Currently, there is no standalone budget for meeting women’s specific needs in the overall emergency response.
Speakers said this at a report launch event titled ‘One year On: Time To Put Women and Girls At The Heart Of The Rohingya Response’ held at RAOWA Complex in the city.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam attended the event as the chief guest.
Bangladesh government and agencies have provided emergency aid to more than 700,000 Rohingya people who have arrived over the past year, but the speed at which the world’s biggest refugee camp sprang up has made it difficult for the support to keep pace.
More than a third of women surveyed by Oxfam and partner agencies said they did not feel safe or comfortable going to collect water or using toilets and shower cubicles — many of which lack a roof and a lockable door.
Half the women and three quarters of adolescent girls said they did not have what they needed to manage their periods, including a female-only place to wash sanitary cloths without embarrassment, Oxfam said.