New York, NY (AHN) – New individual identification cards will improve conditions for 22,500 refugees in Bangladesh, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday.
"With these cards, refugees will be able to identify themselves as people legally permitted to reside in Bangladesh if they meet law enforcement officials," Pia Prytz Phiri, country representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said, stressing that the cards are recognized as valid identity documents by the government of Bangladesh.
The refugee agency also said that the cards, which will replace the previous "family book" system for refugees, will ensure a fairer distribution of aid for people in the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in south-east of Bangladesh, which are home to Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar in 1991, according to a U.N. press statement.
Under the "family book" system, all members of one family were registered under the identity and authority of the patriarch, with as many as 45 people being listed under a single name, the UNHCR said.
The new cards are being given to every refugee over the age of five, and, in a society in which polygamy is common, second and third wives will be able to get rations for themselves and their children separately from the rest of the family, the statement added.
Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011713407