The UN refugee agency UNHCR said here Friday that the latest estimate of the number of Rohingya who have arrived in neighbouring Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar has crossed the half-million mark, at 501,000 as of Thursday.
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told a press briefing here Friday that UNHCR this week started distributing plastic sheeting and essential relief items to refugees at the entry points to refugee settlements in Bangladesh.
He added that based on recent surveys on both sides of the border, UNHCR nutrition experts estimate that almost one in five of the new arrivals are suffering from acute malnutrition.
“UNHCR is working with partner Action Against Hunger to provide warm meals there,” Mahecic said, adding that many private donors had also conducted ad hoc food distributions in the camps.
The Rohingya, a primarily Muslim ethnic minority, are denied citizenship under a 1982 Myanmar citizenship law. The Myanmar government recognizes them as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.
A crackdown by Myanmar’s army, launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on Aug. 25, has pushed vast numbers of refugees from the stateless Muslim minority across the border with Bangladesh. The violence has created a humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border.