By Md. Kamruzzaman</p> <p>DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – The World Bank (WB) has approved $165 million to help Bangladesh provide relief to Rohingya refugees in the country, the bank said in a statement.</p> <p>“The grant will help Bangladesh provide basic services and build disaster and social resilience for the Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar,” the statement said.</p> <p>Noting that Rohingya outnumbered more than threefold the local residents in the Teknaf and Ukhia Upazila, the bank said the fund will be used in building a water supply system comprising of community standpoints, rainwater harvesting, and piped water supply systems as well as improve sanitation facilities.</p> <p>“The project will also build and improve multipurpose cyclone shelters, roads, footpaths, drains, culverts, bridges and install solar street lights inside the camps,” it added.</p> <p>“The influx has placed enormous pressure on local infrastructure, services and public resources. […] Through our existing and new projects, we are helping the local population,” said Dandan Chen, the World Bank’s acting country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.</p> <p>“More than half of the Rohingya population are women and girls and before coming to Bangladesh they were exposed to gender-based violence and now are at risk,” World Bank Team Leader for the project Swarna Kazi said.</p> <p>The grant is the third in a series of planned financings of approximately half a billion dollars announced by the World Bank in June 2018.</p> <p><br>
– Persecuted people
<p>The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.</p> <p>According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.</p> <p>Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).</p> <p>More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience."</p> <p>Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.</p> <p>The UN has also documented mass gang rapes, killings – including of infants and young children – brutal beatings and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces.</p> <p>In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity and genocidal intent.</p>
