Dhaka, Sep 10
Bangladesh is planning to send 20,000 Rohingya refugees annually to the US, aiming to move a total of 200,000 over the next decade, according to Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain.
Speaking on Monday, Hossain acknowledged that while the number may seem small, it offers hope for a substantial long-term solution.
The resettlement initiative is currently in a pilot phase, with a few hundred refugees being relocated at a time.
To date, around 2,500 Rohingyas have been selected, and the process is being expedited.
The Rohingya crisis began on August 25, 2017, when Myanmar’s military launched a violent crackdown on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh and other neighbouring nations like India.
Within months, 750,000 Rohingyas sought refuge in Cox's Bazar’s Ukhiya-Teknaf region, joining 400,000 who were already in camps, reported.
Under international pressure, Myanmar's then-government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, agreed to repatriate the Rohingyas by the end of that year, formalising the arrangement in a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh in September 2017.