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Bangladesh: First Myanmar Muslim refugees resettle to Canada

Briefing Notes, 15 December 2006

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 15 December 2006, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The first group of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar left their long exile in a refugee camp in Bangladesh for resettlement in Canada yesterday, Thursday.

The 13 men, women and children arrived in Toronto on Thursday afternoon after an exhausting road trip from Cox's Bazar to the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and then a flight via London. They were generally excited to be leaving the refugee camp where they had lived for 15 years. They are all scheduled to settle in Kitchener, Ontario.

This is a humanitarian gesture by Canada while we seek durable solutions for more than 26,000 Rohingyas in the two camps in Cox's Bazar – Nayapara and Kutupalong. Canada has also accepted another nine Rohingyas for resettlement under its 2006 quota, but they are expected to travel in late January.

We welcome any efforts that could herald some movement on ending one of our most protracted refugee situations in Asia.

The Rohingyas are a minority Muslim ethnic group from Northern Rakhine State (formerly known as Arakan) in Myanmar and have close linguistic and ethnic ties with groups in Bangladesh. They have fled persecution in successive waves since the early 1960s, heading mainly for Bangladesh and Malaysia. The current military government in Myanmar denies the Rohingyas are an indigenous ethnic group, and denies them citizenship.

The Rohingyas in the camps in Cox's Bazar are the remainder of a group of 270,000 refugees who fled into Bangladesh in 1992 to escape persecution by the military junta. Over the years, we have helped more than 236,000 Rohingyas to go home, but more than 26,000 remain in the camps, afraid to return. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 also live around Cox's Bazar, but outside the camps.

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UNHCR-NGO Toolkit for Practical Cooperation on Resettlement

A repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships, June 2011.

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UNHCR Resettlement Handbook and Country Chapters

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Returnees in Myanmar

During the early 1990s, more than 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled across the border into Bangladesh, citing human rights abuses by Myanmar's military government. In exile, refugees received shelter and assistance in 20 camps in the Cox's Bazaar region of Bangladesh. More than 230,000 of the Rohingya Muslims have returned since 1992, but about 22,000 still live in camps in Bangladesh. To promote stability in returnee communities in Myanmar and to help this group of re-integrate into their country, UNHCR and its partner agencies provide monitors to insure the protection and safety of the returnees as well as vocational training, income generation schemes, adult literacy programs and primary education.

Returnees in Myanmar

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

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They fled to Nepal from Bhutan amid ethnic tensions in the early 1990s. Now, many of the slightly more than 100,000 refugees have been offered the possibility of resettlement to another country.
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Aid To Myanmar Cyclone Victims

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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.