Govt plans biometric database for Myanmar refugees


FE Team | Published: September 08, 2017 17:46:56 | Updated: October 23, 2017 08:26:15


Govt plans biometric database for Myanmar refugees

Bangladesh has decided to create a database of Myanmar refugees by collecting biometric details from the hundreds of thousands arriving through various points of its southeast border, reports bdnews24.com.

 

With shelter capacity shrinking, the Rohingya refugees have been squatting beside roads and other open spaces.

 

The biometric database is part of an initiative to shelter them in one place, said Cox's Bazar Additional District Magistrate Khaled Mahmud on Friday.

About 270,000 Rohingya Muslims sought refuge in Bangladesh in the past two weeks, said the UNHCR on Friday.

 

The camps that were already housing refugees from previous violence in Myanmar have been "bursting at the seams", it said.

 

The administration at Cox's Bazar, the district witnessing a huge influx of arrivals from Myanmar, has set up a control room. "Four officials will take turns to perform duty there," said Mahmud.

 

He earlier said that the administration was seeking to allocate 50 acres of forest department land in Balukhali for Rohingya refugees.

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