A delegation of the United Nations Security Council has arrived Bangladesh to see the plight of Rohingyas.
A chartered flight from Kuwait carrying the 30-member delegation landed at the airport of the southeastern district Cox’s Bazar on Saturday afternoon.
This is the first time a UN Security Council team has travelled to Bangladesh. The delegation led by the Peruvian representative, includes the UK’s permanent representative to the UN.
The Bangladesh government is expected to brief the delegation later on Saturday on three issues— the geo-political backdrop, repatriation of Rohingyas, and conventional and unconventional security risks.
On Sunday, the delegation will travel to the zero line between Myanmar and Bangladesh to visit the Rohingyas stranded there, before visiting the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.
They will travel to Dhaka the same day and expected to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the next day before flying for Myanmar.
Rohingya trace their presence in the Rakhine state back centuries. But most people in majority-Buddhist Myanmar consider them to be unwanted Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh.
They have have been facing persecution since the 1960s after the military junta took power. The army refers to the Rohingya as “Bengalis,” and most lack citizenship.
In 1978, a wave of Rohingyas crossed the border into Bangladesh fleeing violence. A second wave entered in 1992 and third in 2012, after ethnic clashes broke out.
The latest exodus was triggered by a military crackdown in northern Rakhine, which Myanmar describes as a legitimate response to insurgents’ attacks on security outpost.
The UN, however, described the military actions as ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.
Bangladesh is now home to over 1 million Rohingyas after some 700,000 fled Myanmar since August last year.

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