GENEVA —
The two agencies visited 23 villages and three village
tracts in Myanmar's Rakhine State. They said their teams were able to go
wherever they wanted and to meet with whomever they wished.
U.N. Officials report Rohingya Muslims live in fear and
mistrust and are not allowed moving around freely in Myanmar's Rakhine State.
The U.N. refugee agency and U.N. development program recently carried out their
first assessments of conditions in northern Rakhine State since the mass exodus
of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh more than one year ago.
UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said the focus of their
meetings was to find out the conditions under which people are living and the
challenges they face.
"These assessments are happening in the context of
the crisis that unfolded last year. So, clearly there is also an impact on how
people live and everybody that the teams have met are facing a very difficult
situation, especially in making ends meet," he said.
Mahecic said people in Rakhine spoke about their
inability to make a living and get basic services because of severe
restrictions on their freedom of movement. He said mistrust, fear of
neighboring communities and a sense of insecurity are prevalent in many areas.
"Fear and mistrust, has an impact on access to
education, health and other basic services. It also limits interactions between
communities, hindering prospects for confidence-building and social cohesion.
The communities we visited frequently spoke of challenges in getting to health
services as well as restrictions on the Muslim population in accessing
education," said the spokesman.
The UNHCR and UNDP signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with Myanmar in early June. The MOU seeks to create conditions conducive to the
voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees from
Bangladesh and their reintegration in Rakhine State.
On the basis of these initial assessments, Mahecic said
it is clear that none of these conditions have been met.
Source: VOA