UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency said Tuesday that one-third of the Rohingya families who have fled their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State are in vulnerable condition in camps in Bangladesh.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has just completed the first phase of Rohingya refugee family counting, gathering data on more than 120,000 families comprising half a million refugees, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The exercise, conducted jointly by UNHCR and Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, took place in the Kutupalong camp and extension areas and the Balukhali areas and is now extending further south, he said.
The UNHCR teams found that one-third of the families are vulnerable. As many as 14 percent are single mothers holding their families together with little support in harsh camp conditions. Others are struggling with serious health problems, he said.
There is also a high proportion of elderly people at risk and unaccompanied and separated children -- some of them taking care of younger siblings. Children made up 54 percent of the total population; 52 percent are women, he said.
More than 600,000 ethnic Muslim Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in a little over two months from northern Rakhine State following deadly rebel attacks on security posts on Aug. 25 which touched off retribution.
The UN Security Council on Monday demanded an end to the "excessive use of military force" in Rakhine State and the creation of conditions for the safe return of refugees.
In a presidential statement, the Security Council called on the Myanmar government to address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine State by respecting human rights and by allowing freedom of movement, equal access to basic services, and equal access to full citizenship for all individuals.
The Myanmar government does not recognize Rohingyas as citizens of the overwhelmingly Buddhist nation.
