Queen Mathilde visits the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh

Queen Mathilde visits the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh
Credit: Belga

On the second day of her working visit to Bangladesh as UN Development Goals Advocate, Belgium's Queen Mathilde on Tuesday visited the world’s largest refugee camp, Kutupalong, in Cox’s Bazar district. More than a million Rohingya live there.

As a Muslim minority in predominantly Buddhist Burma, the Rohingya have faced structural discrimination for generations. Their living conditions are particularly difficult. Nearly half of the camp’s inhabitants are underage but have limited access to education.

The Queen of the Belgians was received at one of the camp's 3,400 learning centres, where some 356,000 children study.

The day’s schedule also included a visit to a “safe space,” where women and girls can meet in a secure environment, discuss and teach each other skills. There is also space for vocational assistance.

The SAFE+2 programme was also discussed. Against the backdrop of a large influx of refugees in an otherwise vulnerable area, this is an initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to protect the degraded ecosystem while improving household resilience.

Finally, the Queen visited an environmentally friendly facility that purifies faecal sludge.

Wednesday, the last day of the Queen’s working visit, will focus on natural disasters and climate change, phenomena to which Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable.


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