The Op-Ed was first published in The Daily Star. Click here to read the original publication. 

It has been more than six years since the forced mass displacement of over 700,000 Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state took place in August 2017. They fled state oppression and were forced to leave their homes and embrace an uncertain future. Bangladesh found itself having to deal with one of the most rapid, large-scale human displacements ever faced by a single country. The people and Government of Bangladesh rose to this extraordinary challenge with compassion and courage, and the United Nations along with the wider international community collaborated to assist the country in responding to this crisis.

However, as a large part of the Rohingya population, in Bangladesh, enters its seventh year residing in refugee camps, international attention has been diverted by other global crises and disasters. This has resulted in a funding crisis to support those displaced around the world. There is a pressing need for the world to reinvigorate its commitment to the Rohingya and to help find a sustainable long-term solution for more than one million refugees who now live in Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char. 

The drawdown in funding is creating a dilemma for both the international community and the people of Bangladesh, while causing deep cuts to the lives and hopes of the Rohingya refugees. Humanitarian conditions in the world's largest single refugee camp could further deteriorate significantly as funding declines. Food ration cuts, for example, threaten to increase rates of malnutrition. Shortages in clean water and proper sanitation, and the lack of access to decent livelihoods risk throwing basic living conditions out the window. All this, in an already fragile ecozone prone to natural disasters, is contributing to a crisis of human development and human security in the camps.

Criminal groups who menace camp communities could increase their efforts to recruit youths. Amid despair and uncertainty about the future, incidents of communal, sexual and gender-based violence have shown a dramatic uptick. This is, sadly, an unsurprising consequence. On the housing front, heavy and more frequent rains linked to climate change batter bamboo and tarpaulin shelters that house a majority of the Rohingya, barely sheltering them from the harsh elements. Recurring maintenance and rebuilding costs cannot be borne by this community. But perhaps the greatest cost is the loss of hope for a better future among many Rohingya, especially women and girls. 

Next week, when we visit the camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char, we will meet with Rohingya communities, the government and partners to explore new initiatives and support. The safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya to their homes in Myanmar remains the primary solution to the crisis. We need to recognise, however, that the situation in Rakhine is currently not conducive to large-scale return. So, in the interim, while preparing the ground for that repatriation, we must collectively consider what more can be done.