UN Warns of Desperate Situation of Rohingya Muslims, Risk of Deterioration

TEHRAN (IQNA) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned on Monday that the situation of the Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh was desperate and could worsen if humanitarian aid for them was not increased.

The exodus of Rohingyas began on Aug. 25, after the Myanmar army launched an offensive in Rakhine state following an attack by Rohingya rebels on multiple government posts.

"Their situation remains desperate, and we risk a dramatic deterioration if aid is not rapidly stepped up,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in a press conference in Dhaka.

He said that the situation of the Rohingyas had still not been stabilized and more humanitarian aid was required to prevent conditions from worsening.

On Sunday, after visiting the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in the Cox’s Bazar district, in southeastern Bangladesh, Grandi said he met deeply traumatized people who were faced with enormous difficulties.

"They had seen villages burned down, families shot or hacked to death, women and girls brutalized. Many of the refugees said they would like to go home, but that needs an end to violence,” he said.

"Solutions to this crisis lie within Myanmar,” Grandi said.

He then stated that all Rohingyas in Bangladesh were refugees, all though not all of them enjoy official refugee status.

"They fled from discrimination, persecution, violence, conflict – these are all causes which qualify somebody who flees from them as refugees,” Grandi said.

According to UN estimates, around 436,000 members of the Muslim minority Rohingya community have arrived in Bangladesh over the last one month since the crisis began.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said that ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas could be taking place in Myanmar.

Source: Herald Tribune