UN humanitarian chief, UNICEF executive director coming to Bangladesh amid deteriorating Rohingya crisis

UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake will be on mission in Bangladesh from October 2 over the deteriorating Rohingya crisis.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 30 Sept 2017, 08:15 PM
Updated : 30 Sept 2017, 08:15 PM

On arrival, they will go to Cox’s Bazar where half a million Rohingyas from neighbour Myanmar's Rakhine State took shelter fleeing ethnic cleansing.

This is the largest displacement and mass refugee movement in the region in decades.

The UN office in Dhaka said the purpose of the joint mission is to see, first-hand, the devastating humanitarian situation of the Rohingya refugees.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. Photo: United Nations

The scale of the emergency has far surpassed UN's initial projections.

The original response plan, launched on Sep 7, sought $77 million to assist 300,000 people.

As of 29 September, the program has received $36.4 million, or 47 percent, of the funding requirements for the coordinated response.

Humanitarian partners are now revising the initial plan to account for the huge additional needs, the UN office said.

They will leave Dhaka on Sep 4.