UN Security Council team in Bangladesh, to visit Rohingya refugee camps

A 15-member United Nations Security Council team has arrived in Bangladesh to see the plight of the Rohingyas from Myanmar now living in makeshift camps in Cox's Bazar.

The team reached the south-eastern district of Cox’s Bazar at 4pm on a direct flight from Kuwait, the district’s administrator Md Kamal Hossain told the media.

The UNSC team, accompanied by 25 other officials, was staying in a hotel in Ukhiya and will visit the camp on the no man’s land along the border with Myanmar at Konaparha in Bandarban’s Naikkhyanchharhi on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Kamal said.   

They would also visit the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya, he said.

The foreign ministry was scheduled to brief the Security Council team about the Rohingya crisis and the latest situation on Saturday evening, Kamal said.

This is the first time a Security Council team is visiting Bangladesh after the 'fastest growing refugee crisis of the time' in the world started on Aug 25 when Myanmar launched an operation described by the UN and the Western nations as ‘ethnic cleansing’ against the Rohingyas in Rakhine State.

Weeks after the latest exodus of over 700,000 Rohingyas started last year, the Security Council "expressed concern about reports of excessive violence during the security operations and called for immediate steps to end the violence in Rakhine, de-escalate the situation, re-establish law and order, ensure the protection of civilians”.

British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft had said it was the first time in nine years the council had agreed on a statement on Myanmar.

Such statements have to be agreed by consensus, but Russia and China have traditionally protected Myanmar from any action.