Bangladesh

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today said that the Myanmar has conveyed to Bangladesh’s Government the names of 3,450 Rohingya refugees who have been cleared for return to Myanmar’s Rakhine State.  UNHCR called Myanmar’s engagement a positive step in affirmation of the right to return of Rohingya refugees.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is working with the Government of Bangladesh to help more than 275,000 people affected by flooding in the country’s north-west. Some 5,000 households have received cash transfers as part of an innovative project which uses weather forecasts to trigger early action.

Across parts of Bangladesh, monsoon rains have led to flooding and landslides that has reportedly killed at 30 people affected 2 million.  The Government is providing food, shelter and emergency cash assistance, and the United Nations and aid partners are supporting water and health-related efforts.

A new Food and Agriculture Organization report finds that 41 countries — 31 of which are in Africa — require food assistance, as cyclone damage and rainfall deficits in 2019 caused significant agricultural production shortfalls in Southern Africa, and severe dryness in East Africa negatively affected harvests.

Due to sporadic rainfall in Bangladesh’s Teknaf peninsula, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and aid partners will truck water in the coming days to 140,000 Rohingya refugees, where water rationing due to limited supply has raised concern about the potential for water-borne diseases.

The United Nations refugee agency said today it is deeply concerned about the fate of at least 21 Venezuelans missing after their boat sank yesterday morning on the way to Trinidad and Tobago.  It was carrying at least 25 people, and the Trinidad and Tobago authorities said four were rescued.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today strongly condemned the beheading of 37 men in Saudi Arabia, most of them Shi’a Muslims, despite the repeated appeals by the United Nations about the lack of due process and fair trial guarantees.  She appealed to the authorities to halt pending executions.

The top-ranking United Nations officials for refugees, migration and humanitarian affairs will jointly visit Bangladesh from Wednesday to Friday this week to highlight the ongoing importance of supporting the humanitarian needs of nearly a million Rohingya refugees, as well as people living in host communities.

With Bangladesh expecting its first monsoon of the year in the coming weeks, the United Nations refugee agency is ramping up emergency preparations and training of Rohingya refugees as first responders.  Last year, more than 740,000 refugees fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh experienced their first monsoon.

Fragility, tensions and violence in Myanmar — including, but not limited to, the recent crisis in Rakhine State — risk jeopardizing important strides made in that country’s peace process, the top United Nations official in Myanmar warned the Security Council today, urging the 15-member organ to continue to lend support.