Inspiring hope and building resilience among young Rohingya refugees
Almost one million Rohingya refugees live in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – the largest refugee camp in the world. Most arrived in 2017, fleeing persecution, widespread violence and human rights violations in Myanmar. To support the resilience of the camp’s large youth population, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funds life skills education, including to support, protect and empower adolescent girls and to initiate discussions on gender equality and violence among both young boys and girls. UN Volunteers like Urmi Tanchangya helps to bring hope and resilience to these refugees.
Urmi Tanchangya is a national UN Volunteer Programme Assistant with UNFPA's Adolescents and Youth Unit. Her assignment contributes to UNFPA’s Humanitarian Forcibly Displaced Persons Response Project in Cox’s Bazar. She supports programme management, administration and monitoring and evaluation.
Bringing hope to Myanmar migrants and refugees fleeing adversity
The border between Myanmar and Thailand is characterized by intricate mobility dynamics. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working to understand and address the complexities of this situation. From January to May 2023, the IOM data collection team conducted interviews with over 2,600 individuals from Myanmar as they entered Thailand. For this work, IOM has enlisted the support of seven UN Community Volunteers.
The migration corridor between Myanmar and Thailand is one of the top 20 in size globally and the largest in the Asia-Pacific region. An estimated 10,000 individuals enter Thailand monthly through just two of 10 observed border provinces. Of these, 15 per cent cite the quest for safety as a reason for leaving home.