Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan attends the second phase conference of Border Guard Bangladesh battalion commanding officers at its Peelkhana headquarters in Dhaka on Thursday.
A humanitarian crisis was created as at least 92,000 people were displaced due to Myanmar Army-led security operations in northern Rakhine State in October 2016, UN Office for the Coordination of Human Rights said in a bulletin.
UNOCHA and UN agencies in Bangladesh estimated that 69,000 of the 92,000 people, fled to Bangladesh while more than 23,000 people were displaced to Maungdaw in Rakhine State, said the October 2016-January 2017 Myanmar Humanitarian Bulletin (issue 4, 2016).
It said that the majority of those displaced were Muslims who identify themselves as Rohingya. Members of the other communities, including Mro, were also displaced.
People fled their homes in tens of thousands as scores of people were killed, women’s were raped, hundreds of houses were burned and allegations of serious human rights abuses were widely reported since the launching of the security operations after alleged attacks on Myanmar border police posts, in which nine cops were killed on October 9, 2016.
Security sweeps continued in the north of Rakhine State and a dawn to dusk curfew were in place, the bulletin said.
People ‘are still afraid’ to move freely to access services and travel passes ‘are restricted’, it said.
The United Nations and other international organisations could not independently investigate the allegations and reports of abuses due to restrictions imposed by the Myanmar authorities.
Myanmar authorities
have not permitted humanitarian organisations to resume large scale protection activities, excepting limited operations run by local staff.
Emergency medical referrals ‘have been severely impacted’ limiting options for treatment and placing patients at risk, said the bulletin.
Emergency medical referrals outside Maungdaw ‘are not permitted for Muslim patients,’ UNOCHA said.
Health services, including some NGO-run clinics, were resumed in some areas, but coverage was patchy and humanitarian staff report low patient attendance as the situation remained tensed, it said.
Observations from humanitarian staff working in affected areas suggested that food, shelter, household items, medical kits, water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, education and protection support ‘are the key humanitarian needs’, it added.
UNOCHA on January 12 reported that estimated 66,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh.
The Myanmar President’s Office on January 31 extended the deadline for the Maungdaw Investigation Commission, headed by vice-president Myint Swe, also former military intelligence chief, to investigate what prompted attacks on border guard posts and to make recommendations for preventing future attacks, according to Myanmar Times.
Maungdaw Investigation Commission secretary Zaw Myint Phay said the commission would also undertake a trip to Bangladesh.
Yanghee Lee, UN human rights expert on Myanmar, is also expected to visit Bangladesh this February.
A 3-member team of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, widely known as Rakhine Commission, led by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan visited Bangladesh in the past week.
About 33,000 registered refugees of Myanmar and 3,00,000 undocumented Myanmar national have been living shoddy life in cramp houses, including in registered camps, in Cox’s Bazar in for years.
Source: New Age
