Joint OIC, UNHCR delegation to visit Rohingya camps in Bangladesh

By Necva Tastan

ISTANBUL (AA) – A joint delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will visit Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh this week.

The delegation, which arrived in the capital Dhaka on Sunday, met with UNHCR officials and held an expanded meeting with all UN agencies operating in Bangladesh, said a statement released by the OIC on Monday.

The visit aims to follow up on the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers' resolutions on the Rohingya issue and mobilize more financial resources to support the refugees in Bangladesh, which bears the brunt of hosting them on its territory, it added.

Nearly 1.2 million Rohingya live in Bangladesh, the majority of whom fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in August 2017.

While most of them remain in overcrowded camps in the southern Cox's Bazar district, approximately 30,000 have been relocated to Bhasan Char islet since late 2020.

There are also approximately 40,000 Rohingya in India, with 20,000 of them registered with the UN refugee agency.