UNHCR Calls on Bangladesh to Open Border

30 October 2012

The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR has called on Bangladesh to open its borders to Muslims fleeing sectarian violence in Burma’s Arakan State. “UNHCR continues to consider that until public order and security are restored … states should not forcibly return to Myanmar persons originating from [Arakan] State,” Pia Paguio, senior protection officer and officer-in-charge of UNHCR in Dhaka, said on Monday, according to the UN news agency IRIN. “We thus continue to appeal to the government of Bangladesh to open its borders to those in need of a safe haven.”