Bangladesh is to hold a census of hundreds of thousands of undocumented Rohingya who have crossed into the country seeking refuge from persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.
Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said the government had earmarked US$2.7 million for the census to be carried out in Bangladesh’s southeast, near the border with Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Official estimates have put the number of undocumented Rohingya in Bangladesh at between 200,000 and 500,000, in addition to around 32,000 registered Rohingya refugees living in two UN-managed camps.
“The procedure (census) will commence any time during the second half of this year,” Haque said after briefing diplomats about the move.
The mainly Muslim Rohingya minority started crossing into Bangladesh in the early 1990s from Myanmar. (Courtesy of South China Morning Post)
