HIGH-LEVEL UNHCR OFFICIAL VISITS TO VIEW PROGRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000240

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PREF BG
SUBJECT: HIGH-LEVEL UNHCR OFFICIAL VISITS TO VIEW PROGRESS
ON ROHINGYA SITUATION


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Geeta Pasi; reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. The Dhaka office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) is continuing to seek a long-term
solution for Rohingya refugees living in camps in
southeastern Bangladesh. Janet Lim, UNHCR's Asia and Pacific
Director, visited Dhaka to discuss long-term options for
resolving the Rohingya refugee situation in southeastern
Bangladesh. During her visit, she met with senior government
officials and visited the two official UNHCR-supported camps
near Cox's Bazar that currently shelter approximately 27,000
refugees. UNHCR,s proposed solution calls for a combination
of repatriation, resettlement in third countries, and opening
up the camps to integrate the remaining population in the
local community. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) In a recent meeting with diplomatic missions, UNHCR
Asia and Pacific Director Janet Lim discussed UNHCR's
three-pronged plan for resolving the Rohingya situation in
Bangladesh: repatriation to Burma, resettlement in third
countries, and integration. Lim said recent unrest in Burma
posed a "huge challenge" to getting that government,s
cooperation in accepting repatriation of Rohingyas. In
addition, third-country resettlement will likely absorb only
a small fraction of the refugees. This leaves the option of
integration, or, as UNHCR prefers to call it, "opening up the
camps" and blending them into the surrounding communities.


3. (C) According to UNHCR, previous Bangladesh governments
have adamantly opposed any plan involving integration of the
refugees. UNHCR, and some diplomatic missions, believe the
current caretaker government might be more amenable to this
option and want to develop a strategy for raising it with the
government. The UN and other donors, including the United
States, are already implementing programs that benefit the
communities around the camps, and not just the camps
themselves. The UN Resident Coordinator expressed the hope
the current government might be persuaded to cooperate if the
international community proposes a plan that provides for the
long-term development of the entire region, one of the
poorest in the country.

FOLLOW-UP PLAN
==============


4. (C) As follow-up, the European Commission agreed to take
the lead in sounding out Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Chowdhury
on the government,s willingness to pursue a long-term
solution to the issue. Following an official visit by the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees in May, the UN will prepare a
stakeholders conference to bring together interested donors
and the Bangladesh government to try to finalize agreement on
a deal. It was agreed UNHCR would convene another meeting of
diplomatic missions in March to discuss the timing of the
stakeholders meeting. (NOTE: POLOFF is organizing a visit to
the camps with the European Commission and Danish Embassy in
March. END NOTE.)
Pasi