Filippo Grandi has
called for more opportunities for Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh and for better
conditions back home.
By: Vivian Tan
11 July 2017
 |
| Filippo Grandi meets with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. © UNHCR/Roger Arnold |
COX’S BAZAR,
Bangladesh – Encouraged by talks in Bangladesh and Myanmar, UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today called for more opportunities
for Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh, alongside action to improve conditions back
home to support sustainable returns.
The High
Commissioner wrapped up his visit to Bangladesh on Tuesday after meeting with
Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.
In Kutupalong
refugee camp, Rohingya refugees told him that after spending 26 years in exile,
they had very little hope left.
“We need to be able
to plan our future. No one can prosper if there are no opportunities,” said one
refugee. “Our children need to receive accredited education that will allow
them to enter institutions of higher learning. Opportunities must be made
available for employment.”
The High
Commissioner noted that during his meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, “she said she wished to improve the conditions of refugees in
the country. We will work for that improvement – trying to give you more
opportunities, especially in employment.”
https://youtu.be/fpiR-qvEhwQ
He also met a
refugee who recently arrived after fleeing the violence in northern Rakhine
state last October. Arefa, 25, escaped with her three daughters and fellow
villagers after her house was razed and her husband arrested. She has not heard
from him since.
Hosted by a refugee
family in Kutupalong camp, the family receives food rations and the eldest
girl, eight-year-old Rubina, is attending school nearby. Arefa is currently
learning to make tooth-cleaning powder in a UNHCR-supported vocational
training, but her immediate concern is finding her husband.
“First, she needs to
know where her husband is. Her husband needs to be free from prison and she has
to have a house to go back to, land on which to rebuild her house,” said
Grandi. “These are all things that I have seen in Myanmar and all things that
we are working on the other side.”
The High
Commissioner was in Myanmar last week, talking to displaced and stateless
people in Rakhine state. In discussions with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi,
she pledged her commitment to pursue the citizenship verification exercise and
to implement the interim recommendations of the Advisory Commission for Rakhine
State, which call for greater freedom of movement and access to services for
the Rohingya.
“Opportunities
must be made available for employment.”
“My meetings with
two strong women leaders – one in Myanmar, one in Bangladesh – make me hopeful
that those solutions can be pursued,” said Grandi. “We should not underestimate
the multiple challenges but it’s clear that the future of Rakhine state is one of
peaceful co-existence between communities.”
Thanking Bangladesh
for hosting waves of refugees from Myanmar over several decades, Grandi offered
UNHCR’s expertise in biometric registration to help document the Rohingya
refugees living in and outside camps.
“This can help to
improve assistance and protection no matter where they are, and also help with
planning for any eventual voluntary return,” said the UNHCR chief.
Some 350,000
Rohingya have fled Myanmar in search of protection in Bangladesh, including an
estimated 74,000 who arrived in late 2016 as a result of a security crackdown
in northern Rakhine state.
Source: UNHCR: http://unh.cr/5963a7da4