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Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain urged the international community to come forward to support Rohingyas, noting that any foreign fund cuts would make addressing the Rohingya humanitarian crisis even harder.

‘I’m afraid it might be,’ he said when asked about the increasing financial burden on the government due to any further fall in foreign aid.

‘The foreign aid for the more than a million Rohingya has already been declining, and any foreign fund cuts will make the situation even more difficult,’ he said while speaking at the closing session of an international seminar at the foreign service academy in Dhaka on Monday.

According to the UN, out of $852.4 million requirement for the Rohingya in 2024, donors provided $548.9m and the US provided $301 million or 55 per cent.

The department of international relations and the centre for genocide studies at Dhaka University in collaboration with the foreign service academy and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees organised the seminar titled ‘The Rohingyas in Bangladesh: In Search of a Sustainable Future’.

On January 26, chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus expressed his sincere thanks to the US president Donald Trump for exempting life-saving food and nutrition support to the displaced Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh from the US aid freeze.

At a discussion, Touhid emphasised that the Rohingya crisis was not solely Bangladesh’s burden but a global issue. ‘Many think that the Rohingya living here is Bangladesh’s problem. It is not. It is a global problem. If the Rohingya are desperate, it will be a challenge not only for Bangladesh but for the entire region.’

He also pointed out that Myanmar was undergoing a civil war and would likely experience significant political shifts. He stressed that in any future negotiations between ethnic groups, civilian governments, and the Myanmar military, the Rohingya issue had to be a priority. ‘Restoring their citizenship and basic rights is crucial and repatriation remains the only sustainable solution.’

Former ambassador M Humayun Kabir highlighted that both Myanmar and Bangladesh were evolving, with younger generations reassessing the situation with fresh perspectives. ‘I think we will find new options to engage with multiple forces not only with those in Myanmar, but beyond. Thus, we can find solutions too.’

Chief adviser’s high representative on the Rohingya problem Khalilur Rahman, foreign secretary Md Jashim Uddin, DU vice-chancellor professor Niaz Ahmed Khan, and professors Rashed Uz Zaman, Syeda Rozana Rashid, and Jahangirnagar University professor Shahab Enam Khan also spoke.