UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Wednesday urged Myanmar to take steps for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in northern Rakhine State.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Development Programme are seeking an improvement of the conditions in Rakhine State for their return.

He said the agencies are seeking effective access; ensuring freedom of movement for all communities and addressing root causes of the crisis that saw some 1 million Rohingya flee in the last year, nearly all to Bangladesh.

Two months since the signing of the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNHCR and the UNDP and the Government of Myanmar, UNHCR and UNDP issued the plea.

"The Myanmar Government's willingness to take the lead in the implementation of this agreement is critical to creating conditions conducive for the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees," the spokesman said. "The government has taken some encouraging steps since the MoU was signed June 6, but substantial progress is urgently needed."

"Confidence building measures need to take root, starting with facilitating access for UNHCR and UNDP to commence needs assessment visits to identify quick-impact projects in priority village tracts that have been agreed with the government," he said. "UNHCR and UNDP remain prepared to support Myanmar in improving conditions in Rakhine State and operationalizing the MoU."

The refugee agency has said nearly 1 million Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh -- nearly 700,000 of them into the Cox's Bazar District in the southern-most part of Bangladesh -- while hundreds of thousands fled to other nations in Southeast Asia.