As he walked through the alleys of the makeshift camps in rains and met Rohingya boys and girls, he remembered his granddaughters and tried to imagine what it would be like to see them in such conditions.

When Antonio Guterres visited Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in 2008, it housed only 10,800 Rohingyas. The total number of Rohingya population living in the district was around 27,000. They had arrived there in previous years and were not repatriated to Myanmar like many others.

UK along with its international partners will continue to put “maximum pressure” on Myanmar to ensure justice for the Rohingya victims of the persecutions by military in Rakhine State as well as their safe and dignified return from Bangladesh.

China yesterday assured Bangladesh of full support for expediting the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar after Dhaka sought Beijing's help to this end.

Dhaka is set to welcome five high-profile dignitaries, including the UN Secretary General António Guterres, next week. The dignitaries will visit Rohingya refugee camps, attend a session on sustainable development agenda and discuss the country's socio-economic achievements with government high officials.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix has highly appreciated Bangladeshi soldiers for their contribution to peacekeeping and serving in some of the most challenging conditions.

The United Nations yesterday commended the Bangladesh government's commitment to support the Rohingya refugees and highlighted that the root causes of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar must be addressed.

The UN secretary-general's special envoy on Myanmar has said granting citizenship to the Rohingya and ensuring accountability for the perpetrators of violence against the community could help create a conducive environment for their safe and voluntary repatriation.

In a major development, the International Criminal Court yesterday asked Myanmar to submit its written observations by July 27 on the allegations of deporting over 700,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh.

Amnesty International has called on the international community to urgently step up international assistance for nearly a million Rohingya refugees in the camps in Cox's Bazar as they face the severity of this year's monsoon.

The Rohingyas, the third largest refugee group in the world last year, are now in critical need of international protection as their condition is worse than the others, the UN Refugee Agency has said.

Myanmar has not met the minimum standards in investigating or prosecuting those engaged in the violence against the Rohingyas, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein yesterday.

Dhaka has finally sent information and observations to the International Criminal Court (ICC), including whether the court could have territorial jurisdiction regarding the displacement of the Rohingyas.

The International Criminal Court can exercise the territorial jurisdiction to try the perpetrators who forcibly drove out Rohingyas from Myanmar into Bangladesh, a former ICC prosecutor said yesterday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sought to know Bangladesh's opinion on whether it can exercise its jurisdiction over the deportation of Rohingyas. Taking the significance of the move into consideration, The Daily Star interviewed some experts to know their views on it. Today we are running the interview of M Humayun Kabir, a former foreign secretary of Bangladesh and permanent representative to the UN in New York.

A long, winding queue of Rohingyas starts to form near the only working tubewell before daybreak. As the small hours go by and the sun begins to glare, the thirsty people leave their 5-10 litre water containers in the queue and wait nearby.

Human rights lawyers representing 400 Rohingya women and girls have called upon the International Criminal Court in The Hague to open a criminal investigation into the continuing atrocities, including genocide, against the Rohingyas.

Bangladesh need not suffer from indecision as to whether it would be better for it to opt for politically or diplomatically negotiated settlement, instead of participating in the ICC process by submitting the opinion on investigating the possible atrocity crimes against the Rohingya, said Prof Rafiqul Islam.

The International Criminal Court has sought to know Bangladesh's opinion on whether it can exercise jurisdiction over the deportation of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

Dhaka again refuted the Myanmar government's claim of “receiving” 62 Rohingya refugees, among the 700,000 who fled to Bangladesh due to a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine State.