GENEVA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Three UN officials on Monday issued a joint statement on the refugee crisis in Bangladesh urging the international community to intensify efforts to bring a peaceful solution to the plight of the Rohingya.
The call was made by Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and William Lacy Swing, Director General for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
"Let us all come together on Oct. 23 at the pledging conference and send a strong message to the Rohingya refugees and their generous hosts in Bangladesh that the world is there for them in their greatest time of need," they said in their statement.
The three said that there is an urgent need to end the desperate exodus of Rohingya from Myanmanr, to support host communities and ensure the conditions that will allow for refugees' eventual voluntary return in safety and dignity.
"The origins and, thus, the solutions to this crisis lie in Myanmar," said the UN principals.
They noted that after the latest round of violence broke out in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Aug. 25, more than 500,000 Rohingya refugees crossed into neighboring Bangladesh in less than five weeks.
Tens of thousands of refugees have arrived since, fleeing discrimination, violence and persecution, as well as isolation and fear.
"The speed and scale of the influx made it the world's fastest growing refugee crisis and a major humanitarian emergency," said the three in their statement.
"The government of Bangladesh, local charities and volunteers, the UN and NGOs are working in overdrive to provide assistance. But much more is urgently needed," they asserted.
"Every day more vulnerable people arrive with very little -- if anything -- and settle either in overcrowded existing camps or extremely congested makeshift sites," they said.
