By TON Bangladesh
Lately, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh said the prolonged presence of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh is creating security problems such as human and drug trafficking with consequences across the region. He made this remark at a virtual meeting with the newly appointed UN's Special Envoy on Myanmar on Tuesday.
During the meeting, he communicated his dismay that in the fifth year of the Rohingya crisis Bangladesh still grappling with multiple challenges of hosting more than a million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals. He urged the United Nations (UN) to play an effective role in a durable solution to the protracted Rohingya crisis.
Bangladesh cannot and should not bear this responsibility alone as the cause of this crisis and the ultimate resolution of this crisis is not here in Bangladesh but in Myanmar. The Rohingya is an ethnic group, more than 700,000 of whom fled persecution and violence in neighboring Myanmar in August 2017. Since then, Bangladesh has been sheltering nearly a million refugees in crowded camps near its coast.
In the past, Bangladesh said that the crowded nation of more than 160 million people is overburdened because of the refugee crisis and the international community should block sources of revenue Myanmar’s military.
An UN-sponsored investigation in 2018 recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for the violence against the Rohingya is still yet to see. Bangladesh has been hosting more than a million Rohingyas in camps in Cox’s Bazar after they fled persecution in Myanmar.
The foreign secretary of Bangladesh emphasized that the office of the special envoy should work towards creating conducive conditions in Myanmar for the return of the Rohingyas in safety and security.
During the virtual meeting, the special UN Envoy acclaimed Bangladesh's exceptional humanitarian gesture and conveyed her earnest recognitions and gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for showing the highest level of humanity by hosting more than a million persecuted Myanmar nationals and Keeping the Rohingya issue high on her agenda.
The special UN Envoy also assured the Bangladesh foreign minister for working the safe and sustainable, dignified return of Rohingyas refugees by giving considerable time and significant efforts to create such conducive atmosphere and conditions for their safe return to Myanmar.
In the meantime, Bangladesh and Myanmar at a technical level discussion expressed readiness to continue cooperation and work closely to address the reasons causing the delay in the verification of the past residency of the displaced people in Rakhine. The Bangladesh side also expressed and offered all cooperation under the three bilateral instruments, to expeditiously complete the verification process.
The first-ever meeting of the newly-formed technical level ad-hoc task force for verification of the displaced persons from Rakhine was held on last Thursday virtually between the concerned officials of Bangladesh and Myanmar amid the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) and the deputy director-general of the Ministry of Immigration and Population of Myanmar.
Solving the difficulties and gaps in pending verification will pave the way for the early commencement of the sustainable repatriation of the displaced people of Rakhine which also demands the creation of a conducive environment in Rakhine and confidence-building among them.
The Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) has also commended and highlighted the role of Prime Minister humanitarian efforts by giving temporary shelters to the huge number of displaced people from Rakhine despite numerous constraints and domestic challenges of Bangladesh.
Currently, the issue of Rohingya refugees is a foremost problem for Bangladesh, particularly after the mass migration of Rohingyas from Myanmar in August 2017. Bangladesh has tried to engage bilaterally with Myanmar and also attempted to garner international support to deal with this problem effectively.
Bangladesh has highlighted the Rohingyas issue with the Muslim world and the world at large besides, the important international organizations like the United Nations (UN) still the problem is not resolved and need a wake call for the international community for the solution of the Rohingyas crisis.