(UTV|COLOMBO) The UN refugee agency head has asked government representatives and business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region to offer more support and protection to over 700,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled violence and discrimination in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since last year.
Since late August 2017, widespread and systematic violence against Myanmar’s mainly Muslim minority Rohingya has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in Rakhine state for Bangladesh.
“We need also to work towards comprehensive solutions for the people of Rakhine State, so that they are not forced to move in the first place,” added Grandi.
The Bali Process is a forum made up of 48 Governments and four international organizations — including UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) — which was set up to enable dialogue and discussion on issues relating to people-smuggling, human trafficking and related cross-border crime.
