Mass exodus continues as Rohingya crisis enters third month

Hundreds of Rohingya people, fleeing targeted violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state, continue to enter Bangladesh as the refugee crisis enters its third month. The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR said it was providing urgent aid and shelter for the Rohingya refugees who arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday and Thursday. UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told the media in Geneva that according to Border Guard Bangladesh around 3,000 refugees had arrived through Anjuman Para border crossing between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. Action Contre la Faim sent food and Unicef distributed water from a boat, while Médecins Sans Frontières identified and brought in people who needed urgent medical attention. The UNHCR distributed tokens for relief supplies to be collected further inland when they find a place to settle, Baloch said. As of Friday morning, more than 2,000 of the newly arrived refugees have moved towards UNHCR’s transit centre near Kutupalong camp, including some vulnerable refugees who were taken by bus, the press release read. At the transit centre, the new arrivals were given health checks, food, water and basic supplies for a few days, before they are relocated to Kutupalong Refugee Camp extension site. More than 600,000 Rohingya have already entered Bangladesh since late August after the Myanmar military launched, what it called 'clearance operation' in response to insurgent attacks on security forces. The number of refugees continues to grow daily. The speed and scale of the influx has made it the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis. Meanwhile, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Volker Türk arrived in Bangladesh on Friday morning with plans to visit refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar and meet Bangladeshi authorities in Dhaka. Türk concluded his visit to Myanmar earlier on Wednesday, during which he reiterated UN calls for unrestricted humanitarian access to all communities in need in Rakhine State. During his visit in Myanmar, Türk also stressed the right of return of refugees who fled from Rakhine State to Bangladesh over recent weeks and appealed for their safe, voluntary, and sustainable return home.