Arakan News Agency
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, thanked the Bangladeshi government and people for their hospitality to Rohingya refugees, calling for intensified support for some 436,000 Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar last month.
“Their situation is still miserable and there is a danger that the situation will deteriorate to a great extent if aid is not stepped up urgently,” he said after a visit to the Kutubpalong refugee camp and other areas along the border where refugees set up their own shelters on small plots of land. “The people I interviewed were very traumatized and although they found shelter in Bangladesh, they are still in great trouble,” Grandi said on the last day of his visit to the country.
“The spontaneous flow of support from the community, individuals, companies and institutions in the country was exceptional,” he said, adding that the government has mobilized efforts at all levels and that UNHCR and other partners are also stepping up support. “Despite all efforts on the ground, For people seeking safety, the ability to respond has been exhausted and the situation is still unstable. There is a need to provide more support quickly if we are to avoid further deterioration.
UNHCR is now running three aircraft loaded with relief supplies to the country and distributing emergency shelter supplies, kitchen utensils and solar lamps. Our experts are working closely with governments to create an organized site with water, sanitation and other facilities, and to register new arrivals. Other international agencies and non-governmental organizations also exist on the ground and play an important role.
Grandi arrived in Bangladesh on last Saturday to look into the situation himself, after discussing the situation with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whom he met last week in New York at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly. Grandi have met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Disaster Management and Relief in Dhaka .
