Eddy Van Wessel, a dutch photographer, shot these photos last year.  If you go to his site, you will see Sidr related photographs too.

The pictures show Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The Special Raporteur reported to the Human Rights Council last week. In his report (about Burma/Myanmar) he highlighted :

(the)continuous deterioration in the economic and social sectors, which further aggravated the humanitarian and human rights situation in the country. The increased militarization in rural areas had contributed to the impoverishment of villagers and to the increase in the number of internally displaced persons.

He further noted that

humanitarian assistance should not be hostage of politics and the population of Myanmar had the right to the same level of assistance from the international community that other countries in the region received

Burma rejected the report for its lack of impartiality and objectivity. And, oh yes, they didn’t even let the man come into the country citing some feeble excuse.

And the camps in Bangladesh? Two years ago, Janet Lim of the UNHCR thought that the camps were among the worst she had seen in her career with the agency. However “Two years down the line things have changed quite a lot,” she says in reference to Nayapara.

I must say its not often one encounters positive news like this. I hope its not the UNHCR just talking up its successes?

The freer, livelier atmosphere in Nayapara and nearby Kutupalong Camp – together home to more than 27,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar – reflects a new spirit of cooperation between the Bangladeshi government and the UN refugee agency.