UN:

Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Targeted by Traffickers, Exploiters

Rasa - Rohingya refugees, who have fled Myanmar into Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, are being exploited by human traffickers and other exploiters.

News ID: 434808

Date: 15 November 2017 - 21:16

RNA - "The UN Migration Agency (IOM) has found that human trafficking and exploitation is rife among Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh," UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters at UN Headquarters, Xinhua

"This is according to interviews and focus groups they've been conducting in Cox's Bazar," he said, referring to where makeshift refugee camps were established in southeastern Bangladesh, neighboring Myanmar's Rakhine State.

"Exploitation has been reported among Rohingya refugees not only among those who arrived since Aug. 25 this year but also among those who have lived in Bangladesh for years. The IOM says that desperate refugees are being recruited with false offers of paid work," the spokesman added.

"With almost no alternative source of income they are willing to take whatever opportunity they are presented with, even if they are risky, dangerous ones that involve their children," he said, adding that "the agency is also concerned about forced and early marriages taking place among the Rohingya refugee population."

Dujarric stressed that the number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh since late August rose to 618,000 over the weekend.

All tolled, there are more than 800,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

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