During his visit to the camps, he said he heard two key messages. The first was that the Rohingya people wanted to return to Myanmar.
"It is essential for the international community to do everything possible to ensure that peace is restored in Myanmar, that the rights of the Rohingya are respected, and that the discrimination and persecution they have suffered come to an end," Guterres said.
The second message, he noted, was that the Rohingya need better living conditions in the camps. "Unfortunately, the recent drastic cuts in humanitarian aid announced by the United States and several European countries have made this even more difficult," he said.
"As a result, we are now facing the need to reduce food rations in these camps," he added, vowing to do everything possible to prevent that from happening.
"I will be reaching out to all countries that can support us to ensure that sufficient funds are made available, so people do not suffer even more—or, in some cases, lose their lives," the UN secretary-general said.
He also noted that this visit was part of his annual Ramadan trip, this time in solidarity with the Rohingya refugees and the Bangladeshi people who have so generously hosted them.
Visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed his full support for the reform process initiated by Bangladesh's interim government and voiced concern for declining humanitarian aid for more than a million Rohingyas living in Cox's Bazar refugee camps.
"I want to express our total commitment to the reform process. We are here to support your reforms. We wish you all the best. Whatever we can do, let us know," Guterres said during his hour-long meeting with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus at his Tejgaon office.
The UN chief arrived in Dhaka on a four-day visit yesterday.
He hoped the reforms would lead to a free and fair election and a "real transformation" of the country that saw political changeover in August last year following a mass uprising that ousted the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
"I know the process of reforms can be complex," he said.
Guterres also said he was also here to express solidarity with Myanmar's forcibly displaced Rohingyas during the Ramadan.
"I've never seen a population so discriminated against. The International community is forgetting the Rohingya," the UN Secretary General said as he voiced his deep concern over declining humanitarian aid for the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees who live in camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar.
"(Aid) cuts are a crime," he said, adding that Western nations were now doubling up on defense spending while humanitarian aid is squeezed across the globe.
Guterres also expressed the UN's "enormous gratitude" to Bangladesh for generously hosting the Rohingya.
"Rohingyas are a special case for me," he added.
Professor Yunus thanked the UN Secretary General for visiting the country at such a crucial time both for the Rohingyas and Bangladesh.
He briefed Guterres about the reform process, saying about 10 political parties have already submitted their responses to the reports of the six reform commissions constituted by the interim government.
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