JAKARTA - The European Union and UNHCR said on June 18 that the EU had renewed its partnership with a further €14 million development grant for the Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh. UNHCR said the money would support 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and livelihood support for Bangladeshi host communities.
The grant will cover Rohingya refugees and nearly 70,000 host-community members, according to the UNHCR document. The listed activities include skills development and access to clean cooking gas.
The announcement followed a May 20 appeal by the United Nations and partners for US$710.5 million for the 2026 Rohingya response in Bangladesh. That appeal covers Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps and on Bhasan Char, as well as local host communities.
The 2026 appeal is designed to reach up to 1.56 million people. UNHCR said the requested amount was 26% lower than the 2025 appeal and covered the minimum required to keep the response running.
UNHCR said on June 2 that Bangladesh hosts 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, most of them in Cox’s Bazar camps. The largest influx began in August 2017, when about 750,000 Rohingya crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh.
The agency said about 150,000 more Rohingya had arrived in Bangladesh since early 2024 after renewed violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. It also said 2025 was the deadliest year on record for Rohingya sea movements through the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, with nearly 900 people reported dead or missing.
The EU grant also comes after other recent donor pledges. UNHCR’s Bangladesh data portal listed a €2 million contribution from Finland on May 31, followed by the EU’s €14 million grant on June 18.
EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Michael Miller said the response needed to change as the displacement continued. “As needs remain protracted, we need to transform the response,” he said, according to United News of Bangladesh.
