Canada pledges $35M to help Bangladesh aid women, girls amid Rohingya refugee influx

Canada will spend $35 million over five years to help Bangladesh address the needs of women and girls as the country deals with a massive influx of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the new spending – to be directed through United Nations agencies – from Bangladesh, where she was getting a first-hand look at the crisis that has seen more than 620,000 Rohingya flee Myanmar since August.

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The new Canadian spending comes as Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement earlier today that would allow for the return of the Rohingya.

However, the government of Myanmar announced no details of the plan, which was immediately criticized by Amnesty International.

Bibeau visited women and children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, currently the epicentre of the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis.

It started when the Myanmar army began what it calls clearance operations in response to an attack by a group of Rohingya insurgents, an offensive that many have said amounts to ethnic cleansing.