U.S. delegation in Burma, Bangladesh to assess refugee crisis

The U.S. has sent a delegation on a mission to address humanitarian needs and refugee issues in Burma and Bangladesh.

The U.S. delegation is lead by Simon Henshaw, acting assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Henshaw, accompanied by Scott Busby, deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Tom Vajda, acting deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs; and Patricia Mahoney, office director of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs,will meet with community and government leaders on the week-long mission that ends Nov. 4, a State Department release said.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees had escaped to Bangladesh from Burma due to recent clashes between government forces and Rohingya fighters.

The delegation will evaluate emergency response and collaborate on solutions for providing relief to displaced individuals who became victims of the recent Rakhine State crisis, the release said. The delegation is traveling to southeastern Bangladesh to listen firsthand to the experiences of those forced to flee their homes.

Rohingya Muslims, a Sunni Muslim ethnic minority in Burma, historically have endured discrimination and persecution in their homeland since the late 1970s with the most recent clashes resulting in the migration crisis.