DHAKA – The United Nations has expressed its hope the ongoing verifying process of Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar will help to find solutions for forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals who fled to Bangladesh following military crackdown in Rakhine state.

“Ultimately, it is hoped the exercise will help to find solutions for the roughly 900,000 refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh,” said Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq at a regular briefing at the UN headquarters on Friday noon, according to the UN official website.

At the briefing, Haq said the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) informed today that it has begun verifying Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, together with the Government of that country.

The six-month process will help to consolidate a unified database for the purposes of protection, identity management, documentation, provision of aid and population statistics, he said.

“Most of these people – well over 700,000 – fled since last August in what was one of the largest and fastest growing refugee emergencies in the region in decades,” Haq said.

He said biometric data, including eye scans and fingerprints as well as photographs, are being used to confirm individual identities for all refugees over the age of 12.

“At the end of the process, refugees are provided with new identity cards, he said adding “For many of the refugees, this will mark the first time they have possessed an individual identity document.

Around 700,000 Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine state since last August following the brutal military actions termed by UN as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” by rights groups.