Bangladesh: Registration starts in camps
Briefing Notes, 25 November 2005
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 25 November 2005, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
On Tuesday this week we started a two-month long registration campaign of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the two government-run refugee camps in Cox's Bazar District in south-eastern Bangladesh.
There are an estimated 20,500 Rohingya refugees in the camps, and the registration now underway will gather information to ensure that we have accurate information about the number of refugees and their profile – such as age, gender etc. The last registration was carried out in 2002.
In the early 1990s, more than 250,000 people belonging to the mostly Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, escaped persecution in Myanmar by fleeing across land and river borders into Bangladesh where they were housed in 20 camps.
Since then 236,000 have repatriated. However, the rate of repatriation has slowed considerably over the last two years with only 92 refugees returning this year, and 210 repatriating in 2004.
In early November, a small group of ambassadors from the European Union visited the camps and called the living conditions appalling, echoing UNHCR's deep concerns over camp conditions and protection of refugees.
Living Silence: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
"Living Silence" is a photographic exhibition of one of the world's most enduring refugee crises, by award-winning photographer Saiful Huq Omi.
Bangladesh has hosted refugees for over three decades. Today, 28,000 refugees from Myanmar known as the Rohingya - an ethnic, religious and linguistic minority people - are living in the two official refugee camps in the south-east of Bangladesh. Over half of them are children, many of whom have only ever experienced life in the camps. It is estimated that there are a further 200,000 Rohingya living outside the camps, unable to return to Myanmar where they fear persecution and exploitation.
Like refugees around the world, the Rohingya refugees are survivors. They are living in transience, waiting for the day they can go home in safety and in dignity. Until then, like any other people, they aspire to live a life free from violence and exploitation.
Together with other UN agencies and NGOs, UNHCR provides shelter, water, primary education and health care to refugees from Myanmar in the Nayapara and Kutupalong camps. UNHCR is also working with governments around the world to resettle some of the most vulnerable.
Living Silence: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
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.
On the outskirts of the city of Yangon – which was also hit by the cyclone – and in the Irrawady delta, some families have been erecting temporary shelters made out of palm leaf thatching. But they desperately need plastic sheeting to keep out the monsoon rains.
Posted on 12 June 2008
UNHCR Relief Items Pour into Myanmar
Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid
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.
On the outskirts of the city of Yangon – which was also hit by the cyclone – and in the Irrawady delta, some families have been erecting temporary shelters made out of palm leaf thatching. But they desperately need plastic sheeting to keep out the monsoon rains.
Posted on 12 June 2008
Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid
Aid To Myanmar Cyclone Victims
UNHCR has sent in almost 120 tonnes of aid to help more than 10,000 victims in Myanmar of Cyclone Nargis.
Bangladesh: A Life On Hold
The story of Noor Jahan, a refugee from Myanmar. Noor Jahan fled from Myanmar in 1992 and found shelter in Bangladesh. Camp life has always been hard, but recent improvements have made her family's life a little easier.
Angelina Jolie visits refugees in Thailand
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visits Karenni refugees in northern Thailand.
| 
| 
| 
