As of Friday, nearly six lakh Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh since August 25 to escape the brutalities of the Myanmar security forces and local Buddhist mobs. “Regarding the situation in Myanmar and Bangladesh, our humanitarian colleagues say that the number of Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 25 has reached approximately 589,000,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson of the UN secretary general, told a regular briefing in New York on Friday.

He also said that the global body does not have any firsthand information as to what is happening in Rakhine and that UN under-secretary-general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who recently visited Rakhine, saw some burnt villages. “Just over half of these new arrivals are staying in a single large site called the Kutupalong Expansion, where aid partners are working with authorities to improve road access, infrastructure and basic services,” said the deputy spokesperson.

“As we announced earlier, on Monday, there will be a high-level pledging conference in Geneva co chaired by the Emergency Relief Coordinator and heads of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and will be co hosted by the European Union and Kuwait,” he said.

“The conference aims to mobilise resources for the Rohingya Refugee Crisis Response Plan, which calls for $434 million to help 1.2 million people through February in 2018.  It is currently only 26 per cent funded,” he added.

To a question, Haq said, “Well, as you know, we haven’t had a substantial amount of first hand access.  Jeffrey Feltman was able to see some burned villages in Rakhine State when he visited just a few days ago, but we don’t have the kind of access we have been seeking, so we don’t have first hand information.” “Of course, what we do have is information of the fact that there are people who have been fleeing across the border, and those numbers continue to rise. Like I said, the number for today is around 589,000, so whatever is happening on the ground, people do continue to be fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh, and we’re registering them and oftentimes, we get to hear their testimonies.”