Call to take coordinated steps for Rohingya repatriation

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has urged the United Nations organizations and other partners to take coordinated actions for the repatriation of about 1.3 million Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds to their homeland Myanmar.

The foreign minister made the call during his four separate meetings with the President of the General Assembly, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the heads of six United Nations development organizations at the United Nations headquarters on Friday (afternoon local time) in New York, according to a press release of the Foreign Ministry.

The foreign minister told United Nations General Assembly President Dennis Francis that in 2017, when about one million people fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar, the people of Cox's Bazar and Chattogram received them with compassion.

“But gradually the Rohingyas 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 and terrorism. As a result, the locals are passing a very difficult time,” he added.

During his meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Hasan said apart from the Rohingyas, since last February, about 750 members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Army have fled to Bangladesh at various times. Most of them have been sent back, and the rest are in the process of being returned.

In a meeting with the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Myanmar, the former Foreign Minister of Australia, Julie Bishop, Foreign Minister Hasan said that the ongoing conflict situation 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 Foreign Minister addressed a program titled 'Crisis, Conflicts and Inter-Agency Collaboration: Nexus Approach' at the UN headquarters.

Six United Nations Organizations - UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, Head of UN Women and Deputy Head of UNICEF and WFP participated in it.

Ambassador Muhammad A Muhith, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, other members of the Ministry and the Mission accompanied the Foreign Minister in the meetings.