Staff Correspondent

The stalemate over the United Nation’s involvement in humanitarian support to Rohingyas in Bhasan Char is finally over with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the UN and the government yesterday.

The agreement would facilitate a close operation between the global body and the government on providing the Rohingyas with different services on the remote island, officials said.

Rohingyas have hailed the development.

“We are extremely happy,” Abdul Hamid, a Rohingya man living in Bhasan Char, told The Daily Star over the phone.

The UN engagement will boost the assistance handed to Rohingyas, he said.

“We will get more food and better facilities. We will get more opportunities to earn as well,” he added.

After the government began relocating Rohingyas to Bhasan Char from the camps in Cox’s Bazar, the UN was keeping itself aloof from the move, citing various reasons, including the absence of an independent assessment of the housing facility built for Rohingyas on the island.

The impasse has been untangled after over a year of stalemate.

THE MOU

The agreement has established a common protection and policy framework for the Rohingya humanitarian response in Bhasan Char, officials said.

UNHCR Bangladesh representative Johannes van der Klaauw and Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Mohsin signed the MoU on behalf of the two sides at the Secretariat.

“It [the agreement] is a recognition from the UN. It also highlights that the Bangladesh government took the right decision [on the relocation of Rohingyas to the island],” Md Mohsin told The Daily Star last night.

UN activities on Bhasan Char have begun with the deal signing, he mentioned.

The UNHCR -- the UN refugee agency -- signed the MoU on behalf of UN agencies working on the Rohingya response in Bangladesh.