Since Sunday night, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh through the Anjuman Para border crossing point in Ukhia district in the country’s south-east. Many say they had initially chosen to remain in their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state despite repeated threats to leave or be killed. They finally fled when their villages were set on fire. The refugees UNHCR staff spoke to yesterday described walking for around a week to reach the Bangladesh border. Some crossed into the country on Sunday night, others throughout Monday in the heat and rain.

UNHCR has just completed the first phase of Rohingya refugee family counting, where more than half a million refugees from Myanmar have so far been counted. Going from shelter to shelter, more than 100 UNHCR-hired enumerators have so far gathered data on more than 120,000 families. In the innovative and revealing family counting exercise, UNHCR teams found that one-third of the families are vulnerable.

After spending two days visiting Cox's Bazar, Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy of UNHCR, met with Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, in which she expressed UNHCR’s gratitude to the people and Government of Bangladesh for their generosity in receiving Rohingya refugees. She reiterated UNHCR’s support for collective efforts to enable Rohingya refugees to live dignified lives in Bangladesh and the pursuit of lasting solutions.

United Nations aid agencies and NGO partners launched the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. The appeal seeks to raise US$920 million to meet the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called for timely, predictable and flexible contributions in order to meet the goals of this year’s appeal.

Over a quarter of a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have now been jointly registered and provided with identity cards by the Bangladesh authorities and UNHCR.

UNHCR and other UN agencies worked around the clock to repair damage, temporarily relocate affected refugees, and activate disaster response plans following eight days of unrelenting rain and wind - the most severe weather since the massive Rohingya refugee influx of 2017. Between 4 and 12 July, 709mm of rain fell in parts of the Kutupalong refugee settlement, out of a July average of about 1040mm for Cox’s Bazar. A combination of landslides, floods and wind damaged or destroyed hundreds of structures and temporarily displaced thousands of refugees.

World Refugee Day was marked in Kutupalong refugee settlement. Refugees and UNHCR welcomed the participation of the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, H.E. Earl R. Miller, who participated in a walk to support a StepsWithRefugees campaign to highlight the plight of refugees worldwide who need to make often long and difficult journeys to reach safety each year. A Rohingya women's group arranged a photographic exhibition and refugee community groups led and organised games and events for the day, alongside many of the organisations working in the response.

More than 500,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been registered in a joint registration exercise by the Bangladesh authorities and UNHCR. For many of these refugees, it is the first time they have an identity card.

Kelly T. Clements, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, concluded a four-day visit to Bangladesh. While in Cox’s Bazar, she met with local officials to discuss the ongoing operational response and opportunities to further aid Bangladeshi communities generously hosting refugees.

Myanmar plans to give the green light to three of six hydroelectric projects to begin construction on the Thanlwin River within three months