Dhaka, Bangladesh: The newly appointed representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Craig Sanders assumed office yesterday.

Sanders joined office after submitting his credentials to Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, said a press release.

"I am deeply honoured to take up this important assignment in Bangladesh, a country that has a rich and long-standing tradition of granting asylum and ensuring the protection of refugees," said Craig Sanders after presenting his credentials.

According to a refugee elder from Nayapara camp said, “We have no security outside the camp because Arakanese Rohingya refugees are arrested from different local areas and on the way by the Bangladesh authorities when they go to work outside the camp.

On March 7, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for support to resume the repatriation process of “all Burmese refugees in the soonest possible time", according to an official release of the ministry.

“At present, the situation of refugees is terrible in the refugee camps.  We do not want to live here. We are not allowed to go out of the camp to work to support our family. It is similar to a prison and we are unable to return to Burma. We do not get any support from any quarter. Now, we are facing food crisis. Some refugees died of starvation. So, the international community including UNHCR is requested to settle us in third countries,” said a refugee committee member on condition of anonymity.