Diplomatic Correspondent :
United Nations Chief António Guterres visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on Monday, declaring “nothing could have prepared me for the scale of the crisis and extent of suffering” that he witnessed there.
After visiting the vast Kutupalong Camp in Cox’s Bazar district, in a message on Twitter, Mr. Guterres said that he had heard “unimaginable accounts of killing and rape from Rohingya refugees that will stay with me forever. Rohingya Muslims who have taken shelter there want “justice and a safe return home.”
Guterres was accompanied by the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, which on Friday announced nearly $500m in grant-based support to help Bangladesh address the needs of refugees. The Head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Felippo Grandi was also there, along with the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, UNFPA, Natalia Kanem.
They reached Cox’s Bazar on a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in the morning.
After landing at the Cox’s Bazar airport, the high UN diplomats went directly to Hotel Sayeman where Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali briefed them.
Bangladesh Government gave an outline to the UN seeking assistance on the Rohingya crisis.
Braving rains, a group of Rohingya refugees staged demonstration at Kutupalong refugee camp demanding safe return to their motherland.
They chanted slogans, “Not Bangalee, yes Rohingyas.”
Spawning camps in Cox’s Bazar are now hosting close to one million Rohingyas who have fled across the border from Myanmar’s Rakhine State since late last August to escape violence.
Heavy monsoon rains have posed threat of flash flooding and landslides in the camp area risking lives for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees on and their host communities. “Their safety during the monsoon season was “priority one”. We cannot allow the monsoons to wash away the hopes of the Rohingya refugees I met today in Bangladesh,” said the UN Chief.
He said at a news conference that the refugees had to live under terrible conditions in the camps because of massive violations of their human rights in Myanmar. He praised Bangladesh’s government for being generous toward the refugees.
“It is impossible to visit these camps without breaking our hearts,” Guterres said. “It is possibly one of the most tragic stories in relation to … systematic violation of human rights.”
UN Secretary General also urged international community to step up help for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Guterres was visiting Bangladesh to meet refugees who have been seeking protection from the United Nations and the international community.
On Sunday, Guterres met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and assured her of the UN’s continuing support for Rohingya.
