More than 270,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been biometrically registered and received identity cards, the first time many of them have had legal identification, through a UNHCR and government of Bangladesh program.
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said in a briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva that the organizations have used the Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) to register 270,348 out of more than 900,000 refugees in crowded settlements in the Cox’s Bazar district. After registering their fingerprints and iris scans, refugees receive a photo-ID card with biographic information, indicating Myanmar as their country of origin. More than 450 staff at six locations are registering over 4,000 refugees a day, in hopes of completing the registration process this year.
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said in a briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva that the organizations have used the Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) to register 270,348 out of more than 900,000 refugees in crowded settlements in the Cox’s Bazar district. After registering their fingerprints and iris scans, refugees receive a photo-ID card with biographic information, indicating Myanmar as their country of origin. More than 450 staff at six locations are registering over 4,000 refugees a day, in hopes of completing the registration process this year.
