Bangladesh to start biometric screening of Rohingya refugees

Bangladesh has moved to start collecting biometric details of Rohingya refugees, who have fled from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine.

Cox’s Bazar Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 11 Sept 2017, 12:49 PM
Updated : 11 Sept 2017, 12:49 PM

Over the last few decades, almost half a million Rohingya Muslims have been living in two registered camps and makeshift settlements in the southeastern Bangladesh district of Cox's Bazar, fleeing persecution and communal violence.

Attacks on a police camp in October last year sparked an influx of almost 87,000 refugees into Bangladesh. Fresh violence broke out on Aug 25 when insurgents attacked 30 police posts and an army base.

About 313,000 Rohingyas are said to have fled Rakhine and sought shelter over the border in Bangladesh in the weeks since the fresh violence.

The local administration in Cox's Bazar said on Monday that they have set up two booths, one at the Kutupalong refugee camp and the other at the new makeshift camp on the Balukhali Hill.

"The booths aim to collect data from 12, 000 refugees,” Executive Magistrate AKM Lutfur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

He said a total of 17 booths will be set up in the Rohingya settlements across the district to collect details of the new and already existing refugees.

The Department of Immigration and Passports is in charge of the project.

Fingerprints and pictures of the Rohingyas will be stored, said the project's Deputy Director Lt Col Shafiul Azam.

"We will also record their Myanmar addresses and when they entered Bangladesh," he said adding the refugees will be given ID cards, which they can use to access all kinds of support.