Diplomatic Desk:
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed received a courtesy call from Ivo Freijsen, the Bangladesh Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in his office at the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday (May 5, 2026).
During the meeting, they discussed the current situation of the Rohingya population sheltering in Bangladesh, international funding and various related issues including repatriation.
The Home Minister said that despite being one of the most densely populated countries in the world, Bangladesh has provided shelter to a large number of Rohingya refugees solely on humanitarian grounds. However, expressing concern over the significant decline in international assistance for the Rohingya in the current global situation, the Minister said that the US has recently reduced its funding allocation by 50 percent. Increasing international assistance to improve the living standards of the Rohingya and meet their humanitarian needs is now the need of the hour.
During the discussion on the current situation of the Rohingya camps, the UNHCR representative said that the refugees are facing a difficult situation due to the high population density in a very limited space. In this context, the Home Minister clarified that it is very difficult to increase the size of the camps in the existing socio-economic and geo-natural realities of Bangladesh. To solve the problem, he laid special emphasis on the safe, dignified and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas.
Highlighting the current geopolitical context in the meeting, the Home Minister said that the Rohingya crisis should not go beyond the attention of the world community due to global issues such as the Gaza crisis, the Ukraine war and the Israel-Iran tensions. He requested the UN and UNHCR to play a stronger role in keeping the Rohingya issue on the main agenda of discussions at various international platforms.
The UNHCR representative invited the Minister to attend the presentation of the ‘Joint Response Plan’ (JRP) regarding Rohingya refugees to be held on 20 May 2026.
At the beginning of the interview, Ivo Freisen warmly congratulated the Home Minister on assuming the responsibility of the new portfolio and the Minister welcomed him.
Additional Secretary of the Political Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, Joint Secretary of the Political-1 Branch Rebecca Khan, Deputy Secretary of the Political-1 Branch Begum Minara Nazmin, among others, were present in the meeting.
