In the past two weeks, 623 families living in flood-prone areas of Kutupalong were relocated to safer parts of the settlement. UNHCR is working closely with the government and other partners to prepare for the upcoming monsoon season.

Nobel Peace laureates Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, and Iran’s Shireen Ebadi visited refugee settlements in Bangladesh to raise awareness about the plight of Rohingya refugees. The laureates’ visit took place as part of the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

UNHCR and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) launched a project to prevent dangerous encounters with elephants, which have resulted in at least 10 deaths in Kutupalong settlement. The highly congested site lies on one of the migratory routes for Asian elephants.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees undertook his 2nd visit to Bangladesh from 1-3 July. He accompanied the first visit of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim. The Executive Director of UNFPA, Natalia Kanem, also accompanied the mission. The World Bank announced $480 million in grant aid for the refugee response.

UNHCR called on the international community to step up its support for some 900,000 stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the majority having fled in August 2017. UNHCR urged renewed international engagement and support for refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, in order to expand the response from day-to-day lifesaving operations to also address challenges such as education and self-reliance for the Rohingya refugees.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees urged governments and business leaders in the Asia-Pacific to show solidarity with refugees in the region and share responsibility for protecting and finding solutions for them. Addressing ministers of 26 countries at the Seventh Ministerial Conference of the Bali Process in Indonesia, he appealed for regional support for over 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh.

UNHCR hosted a gathering with political leaders from four continents, including Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Turkey and the World Bank at the UN General Assembly High Level Week in support of the global compact on refugees, a robust and systematic model to improve the lives of refugees and their host communities. The High Commissioner praised the role of host countries as first responders to refugee emergencies, like Bangladesh. The compact is expected to be endorsed in December 2018.