By Staff Correspondent; Dhaka – Bangladesh has called for coordinated international efforts to help repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in Bangladeshi camps after fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, who is now on an official visit to the United States, made the appeal at a meeting with United Nations General Assembly President Dennis Francis in New York, according to a foreign ministry release on Friday.
The minister said when about one million people fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar the people of Cox’s Bazar eceived them with compassion.
“But gradually they are getting employment in different places out of the camps and the camps have become a haven for various crimes including human trafficking, drug smuggling, terrorism, and the local residents are passing a very difficult time,” he added.
The minister also had a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
Hasan told Grandi that apart from the Rohingya Muslims about 750 members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Army have fled to Bangladesh at various times thanks to the ongoing conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Most of the members of the Myanmar forces have been sent back, and the rest are in the process of being returned.
“Not only that, the shells of the conflicting groups in Myanmar also caused casualties in Bangladesh. It is absolutely necessary to prevent the recurrence of these,” Hasan said.
In a separate meeting with the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, the former foreign minister of Australia, Julie Bishop, Mahmud said that the ongoing conflict in Myanmar is not a new phenomenon and it should not be given an opportunity to be used as an excuse against Rohingya repatriation.
Earlier, the minister addressed a session titled “Crisis, Conflicts, and Inter-Agency Collaboration: Nexus Approach” at the UN Headquarters.
The session was attended by heads of six UN agencies, including UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, UN Women, and deputy chiefs of UNICEF and WFP.
The foreign minister highlighted the benefits of a coordinated approach by UN agencies in conflict-affected regions.
He discussed the situations in Rakhine and Cox’s Bazar, urging all UN agencies, funds, and programs to work together to resolve the refugee crisis and improve conditions for the Rohingya community.
The foreign minister was accompanied by Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Muhammad A. Muhith, and other ministry and mission officials.
#newsnext Bangladesh
