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Refugees Magazine Issue 107 (Refugee voices from exile) - Back in Myanmar

Refugees Magazine, 1 March 1997

The largest repatriation programme in Asia as 250,000 Muslims return to Myanmar from Bangladesh.

Myanmar's northern Rakhine State is one of the most inhospitable parts of Asia. Most of the tropical region situated along the Bay of Bengal is roadless mountain and accessible to inhabitants and aid workers only by boat, motorcycle or on foot. In the rainy season it is one of the wettest places on earth and in the dry season one of the hottest with temperatures reaching above 45 degrees.

For the last three years UNHCR has been overseeing the return of an estimated quarter-million refugees from neighbouring Bangladesh to Myanmar; it is currently the largest organized repatriation in Asia. The population had originally fled during regional unrest in 1991-92.

More than 90 percent of the refugees have returned home and with most of the 20 camps in Bangladesh already closed, UNHCR hopes to complete the repatriation part of its operation later this year. UNHCR and its implementing agencies will continue their involvement in the region, monitoring the situation and financing small self-help projects to help stabilize the Muslim population and minimize the likelihood of another outflow.

Source: Refugees Magazine issue 107 (1997)

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UNHCR Relief Items Pour into Myanmar

With eight relief flights and an earlier truck convoy from nearby Thailand, UNHCR had by June 6, 2008 moved 430 tonnes of shelter and basic household supplies into Myanmar to help as many as 130,000 victims of Cyclone Nargis. The aid includes plastic sheeting, plastic rolls, mosquito nets, blankets and kitchen sets. Once the aid arrives in the country it is quickly distributed.

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UNHCR Relief Items Pour into Myanmar

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Posted on 12 June 2008

Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid

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On 2/3 May, Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar, killing thousands of people and leaving more than 1 million homeless. As a rapid initial response to the crisis, the UNHCR office in Yangon purchased US$50,000 of plastic sheeting and canned food for distribution to cyclone victims.

Since then, the UN refugee agency – in the first overland convoy of aid – trucked in 22 tonnes of tents and plastic sheets from stocks in north-western Thailand. In addition, more than 100 tonnes of plastic tarpaulins, blankets, kitchen sets and mosquito nets are being airlifted in from UNHCR's regional stockpile in Dubai.

Although the UNHCR is not usually involved in natural disaster relief operations, it has responded to the cyclone crisis because of the scale of the devastation, the urgent needs of the victims, and the proximity of its emergency relief supplies to Myanmar.

Posted on 15 May 2008