‘UN will also have to take liability for Rohingya suppression’

Diplomatic Correspondent: Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Momen said, “The UN was never aware about the ethnic suppression that happened in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. For this, the UN can’t avoid their liability for that. They hid some information on the ethnic suppression. They will also have to take responsibility for that.”

The minister came up with the comment while opening a seminar marking “70th Anniversary of Geneva Conventions” in the capital on Thursday.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (DCAB) oirganised the daylong seminar at BIISS auditorium.

In the seminar, Momen, however, was critical of the United Nations handling of the crisis as the situation was erupting but preferred to call it a “procedural error”.

He said the Rohingya crisis was not created in one day, rather the ethnic hatred prevailed in Myanmar since long in Myanmar “but the UN was not aware about it”.

Momen said Bangladesh is committed to uphold humanitarian laws, which is reflected through participation of its troops in the UN peacekeeping missions.

He said the foreign ministry established a national committee on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to promote humanitarian law in general and the Geneva conventions in particular in Bangladesh.

“As the world marks 70 years since the Geneva Conventions were adopted, there is a need to strengthen efforts to forge stronger commitment to humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva conventions by the nations,” he said.

Currently, Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar district and most of them arrived here since August 25, 2017 after a military crackdown by Myanmar termed as “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by the UN.

risingbd/Dhaka/June 20, 2019/Hasan/AI