Rohingya resettlement to US starts with departure of 24

Twenty-four of the selected 62 Rohingyas left Bangladesh for the USA on Thursday under a resettlement process of the US government, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.

The resettlement started just a day after Julieta Valls Noyes, US assistant secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, ended a five-day visit to Bangladesh.

"As part of our unwavering partnership with Bangladesh and our comprehensive response to Rohingya refugees, the US government is very pleased to establish, in coordination with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other resettlement countries, a resettlement programme for the most vulnerable Rohingya refugees," said Julieta Valls Noyes in a statement on Thursday.

She also said, "During my visit, our delegation observed refugee camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char where we pledged to continue our support to Rohingya refugees and the affected Bangladeshi communities, alongside other countries, NGOs, and international organisations."

"Since 2017, the USA has provided more than $1.9 billion in humanitarian assistance to affected populations in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region, for the Rohingyas and their host communities," she said.

After a meeting with Noyes on Tuesday, Abdul Momen said, "The government wants the US to resettle Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh before 2016 as the Myanmar government is unwilling to take them back."

According to the US Embassy in Dhaka, US President Biden affirmed the United States' commitment to welcoming refugees by maintaining the total admissions target in 2022-23 Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions at 125,000, including a regional allocation of 15,000 for East Asia.

Jeff Ridenour, US Embassy spokesperson, told TBS, "This action reflects the United States' long-standing leadership on refugee resettlement in the face of an unprecedented global displacement crisis as record numbers of people around the globe have been forced to flee war, persecution, and instability.  The United States will consider for resettlement all UNHCR referrals of Rohingya refugees to the US Refugee Admissions Programme."

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, commissioner of Refugee Relief and Repatriation, told TBS, "So far we have permitted 62 people to the USA. We cannot say how many of them will go and when."

Earlier this year, Canada resettled around 35 family members of slain Rohingya leader Mohibullah.