UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the contribution of USD 1 million from the Government of Norway in support of the nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh.
The funding, which comes as part of the 2025-2026 support to UNHCR’s global budget, is crucial for ensuring the organization can continue delivering life-saving assistance and respond to increasing protection and humanitarian needs.
Declining humanitarian funding in 2025 has already forced difficult prioritization and reduction of essential services, increasing vulnerability in the refugee camps.
– Now into the ninth year of the crisis, the Rohingya people need international support more than ever to sustain well-being and keep hope alive, said Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh. The Norwegian contribution will help strengthen the refugees’ resilience through education, skills development and livelihood opportunities, and support their self-reliance until they can return to Myanmar, voluntarily, in dignity and safety.
For women and children
– Norway and UNHCR share a common vision of refugee protection that is rights based, principled, multilateral, and future oriented. In the Rohingya response, this means being a predictable partner that emphasises rights, works to preserve dignity, and supports long term solutions, said H.E. Håkon Arald Gulbrandsen, Ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh.
– Norway is proud to support UNHCR in its work to strengthen the resilience and protection of Rohingya women, men, girls, and boys, in line with humanitarian principles, he added.
Norway further contributes to joint programmes such as SAFE+2, which provides refugees with sustainable cooking fuel, moving them away from the use of firewood, unburdening the natural environment surrounding the camps and improving safety and health conditions-particularly for women and children.
Updated Joint Response Plan
Globally, 71 per cent of refugees are hosted by low-and-middle income countries like Bangladesh. Sustained and predictable support remains indispensable for the refugee population and their host community to alleviate the burden of displacement, even more vital in times of reduced funding for humanitarian responses.
UNHCR and its partners, working with the Government of Bangladesh, are preparing to launch the 2026 updated Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. In recent years, Norway has been a leading partner in flexible funding for UNHCR and the refugees, contributing over USD 55.2 million in core support to the Rohingya response since 2017. This generous assistance exemplifies the critical role of the international community in bolstering Bangladesh’s efforts to safely host the refugees until political engagement in the context of Myanmar advances to create conditions for their return.