Photot SR
August 29, 2013
The newly appointed UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Country Representative Stina Ljungdell has praised Bangladesh for sheltering
Myanmar refugees for long.
Presenting her credentials to Foreign Minister Dipu
Moni, she on Thursday said Bangladesh hosted Rohingya refugees for last 30
years with “a highly satisfactory protection regime compared to many places in
the world”.
According to a foreign ministry media release, she said
Bangladesh’s “good work and best practices” went unappreciated “when in fact it
should be praised for maintaining peaceful refugee camps”.
The Foreign Minister, however, reaffirmed that crowded
Bangladesh does not have the capacity to accept more refugees, most of whom
flee Myanmar due to sectarian clashes.
She thanked the UNHCR for their “continued financial
and institutional support” for the maintenance of two refugee camps at
Kutupalong and Noyaparha in Cox’s Bazar.
She briefed the Representative about different “best
practices” including free education up to class VI, vocational skill training,
computer training, and healthcare made available for the refugees.
She underlined that the durable solution to the
refugees and undocumented nationals from Myanmar lies in their “voluntary
repatriation” back to Myanmar and establishing their rights in their own
motherland.
Estimates suggest nearly half a million Rohingyas
entered Bangladesh in two phases of mass migration – in 1978-79 and 1991-92.
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