Rohingya Refugee Crisis

A boy carries bamboo along a very muddy road into the Balukali camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. In preparation for the monsoon season, a frenzy of building and reinforcement required vast quantities of bamboo. 13 June 2018.
© UNICEF/UN0217535/LeMoyne

Bamboo-boring beetles wreak havoc in Rohingya refugee camps, UN agency races to respond

21 December 2018
Humanitarian Aid

Beset by millions of bamboo-chomping beetles, almost every shelter in the vast Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh, needs replacing. With just over four months to go until the beginning of the monsoon season, the race is on for IOM, the United Nations migration agency which is managing the camp, to provide families living in the worst-affected temporary dwellings, with new and more durable bamboo.

In this file photograph, children walk shelters at a camp for displaced persons in Rakhine state, Myanmar. Most of the displaced are women and children.
UNICEF/Brown

UN agencies welcome green light for Rohingya projects in northern Myanmar; urge ‘more effective access’

17 December 2018
Humanitarian Aid

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, on Monday announced that they had received the Government go-ahead to develop community projects in Myanmar’s Rakhine province, and called on authorities to provide “more effective access” to the area.

Rohingya refugee settlement, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
IOM/Olivia Headon

UN migration agency builds temporary safe havens to shelter Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

20 November 2018
Migrants and Refugees

The United Nations migration agency said on Tuesday that it has upgraded structures in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps as temporary accommodations for emergency situations.

Over 720,000 members of Myanmar's Rohingya community have sought refuge in Bangladesh after widespread ethnic violence erupted in the country's Rakhine province.
UNICEF/Brown

‘Terror and panic’ among Rohingya who may be forced to return to Myanmar – UN rights chief

13 November 2018
Human Rights

There is “terror and panic” among Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh, who are at imminent risk of being returned to Myanmar against their will, the United Nations top human rights official has said, warning that the returns would seriously endanger the lives of those sent back.

A Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, sits with two out of her four children in their shelter at Nayapara camp, south-east Bangladesh.
UNHCR/Chris Melzer

Rohingya returns only ‘at their freely expressed wish’ – UN refugee chief

12 November 2018
Migrants and Refugees

Returns of Rohingya refugees, forced to flee their homes due to widespread and systematic violence in northern Myanmar, “should only take place at their freely expressed wish” the United Nations top refugee official has stressed, amid concerns that conditions at places of origin are not yet conducive to safe, dignified and sustainable returns.

A young child sleeps in a shelter at the Kyein Ni Pyin camp in Rakhine province, Myanmar. Over 700,000 members of the Rohingya community have been forced from their homes as a result of widespread and systematic violence.
UNICEF/Ruslana Sirman

Accountability for atrocities in Myanmar ‘cannot be expected’ within its borders – UN investigator

24 October 2018
Human Rights

Continued denial of the facts and evidence of gross human rights violations by Myanmar is a clear indication of the country’s “lack of interest” in establishing a fully functioning democracy based on individual rights and freedoms, two United Nations independent experts have underscored.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees line the roads of the Kutupalong mega refugee settlement as the UNSC visit takes place. Many hold signs welcoming the visit and saying they want justice, as well as stating their key demands for repatriation. (file)
UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

Accountability a key pillar for reconciliation in Myanmar: UN Envoy

20 October 2018
Migrants and Refugees

Accountability and inclusive dialogue are two important pillars for national reconciliation in Myanmar, said the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General (SESG), Christine Schraner Burgener in a statement released on Saturday, adding that “credible fact-finding is the first step towards accountability.”

Rohingya refugees make their way down a footpath during a heavy monsoon downpour in Kutupalong refugee settlement, Cox's Bazar district. 2018.
© UNHCR/David Azia

UN migration agency: young Rohingya girls, largest group of trafficking victims in camps

16 October 2018
Migrants and Refugees

More than a year into the crisis in Cox’s Bazar, the number of Rohingya refugees has reached nearly one million, with young girls in Bangladesh refugee camps sold into forced labour accounting for the largest group of trafficking victims, reported the UN Migration Agency (IOM) on Tuesday.

Over 720,000 members of Myanmar's Rohingya community have sought refuge in Bangladesh after widespread ethnic violence erupted in the country's Rakhine province.
UNICEF/Brown

Concern rising over fate of Rohingya refugees sent home by India: UNHCR

5 October 2018
Migrants and Refugees

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has voiced ‘great concern’ for the safety and security of seven Rohingya men who have been sent home by Indian authorities, after reportedly being denied access to lawyers, or full consideration of their asylum applications.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Bangladesh ‘disappointed’ at lack of progress in alleviating plight of Rohingya, Prime Minister tells UN Assembly

27 September 2018
Migrants and Refugees

The world cannot ignore or remain silent over the plight of the Rohingya people – driven from their homes in Myanmar and sheltering in Bangladesh – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, urging world leaders for an early and peaceful solution to the massive refugee crisis.