Arakan News Agency
Rohingya Muslims living in squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh have demanded UN protection as a UN Security Council delegation visited the settlements in south-eastern Bangladesh.
The 24-member team led by Peruvian diplomat Gustavo Adolof Meza Cuadra Velasqez first visited a camp located close to the border with Myanmar before heading to a camp in Kutupalong of Cox’s Bazar district, district administration chief Kamal Hossain said.
Several hundred Rohingya gathered in front of a community centre where the diplomats met with refugees on Sunday. One of the placards they carried read, “We want justice.”
Rohingya representatives handed a charter of 13-point demands to the diplomats. The demands include the presence of international security in northern Arakan state for safety, repatriation under UN supervision and the restoration of their citizenship in Myanmar.
The UNSC delegation landed in Cox’s Bazar on Saturday to see the plight of the Rohingya Muslims, who fled a violent military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar last year.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have crossed the border into Bangladesh since August 2017 and have since been living in squalid camps.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has said the crackdown in its northern Arakan state was a legitimate response to militant attacks in the region.
The Security Council representatives will also visit Myanmar’s Arakan state after the three-day tour of Bangladesh.
During their Bangladesh visit, the officials will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before they leave Dhaka for Naypyidaw on Monday.
