The government has ordered three non-governmental organisations to stop their charity activities for unregistered Rohingya refugees staying in Cox’s Bazar.
The NGOs are the Musilm Aid UK and France’s ACF (Action Against Hunger) and Medecins Sans Frantieres (Doctors Without Borders) which had been providing shelters, food and medical services for the Rohingyas who fled the persecution in Myanmar and have been staying outside the officials refugee camps.
Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Jainul Bari told New Age that the NGO Affairs Bureau had issued the order on Wednesday and he conveyed it to the NGOs concerned.
Jainul said that the order had been issued issued after an investigation that had found that the NGO charity programmes were encouraging other Rohingyas of Myanmar to sneak into Cox’s Bazar and live here on charity for over years.
The NGO Affairs Bureau in its letter to the Muslim Aid UK accused the organisation of illegally helping undocumented Rohingya refugees using its non-formal education training and livelihood support for the vulnerable families in Cox’s Bazar.
The letter said that the project was encouraging the influx of the Rohingyas from Myanmar.
An official of the Muslim Aid UK said that they had stopped the Rohingya project in Cox’s Bazar following the order.
The NGO Affairs Bureau in its letter accused the MSF of damaging Bangladesh’s image abroad by circulating negative news in the international media about the Rohingyas.
Apart from nearly 30,000 registered Rohingyas in the camps, about three lakh undocumented Rohingyas are now staying throughout Cox’s Bazar outside the camps.
-With New Age input
