Denmark increases support for Rohingya refugees and host communities through WFP

The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ulla Tørnæs, who has just concluded a joint visit to the refugee camps in Kutupalong-Balukhali, Cox’s Bazar, with the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, on October 31st announced extra funding of $US4.6 million (30 million DKK) to meet the urgent food needs of Rohingya refugees and host communities.

Cox’s Bazar has been one of WFP’s largest Asia operations since August 2017 when more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees began fleeing repression in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The Danish government was one of the first donors to support WFP in meeting the urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya refugees. Having allocated 203 million DKK in 2017, and 360 million DKK so far in 2018, Denmark plans to further increase humanitarian and development assistance.

During their two-day visit to Cox’s Bazar Tørnæs and Beasley saw first-hand WFP’s general food assistance programmes, disaster risk reduction work, nutrition centers, and school feeding, as well as site management and engineering work carried out by WFP with the International Organisation of Migration and the UN Refugee Agency.

The joint visit to Bangladesh underlined the strategic cooperation between the Danish Government and the World Food Programme to promote food security particularly in vulnerable countries and contexts to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030, and on promoting partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Original source: World Food Programme
Published on 31 October 2018