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Bangladesh interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus once again called upon the international community to exert pressure on Myanmar and the Arakan Army to immediately stop persecution of the Rohingyas.

 He also called for repatriating those Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh camps to the Rakhine State for a sustainable solution to the protracted crisis.

He was addressing the opening session of the High-Level Conference on the Situation of the Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar on Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Yunus has already rolled out a seven-point proposal seeking actions from the international community to resolve the crisis as Bangladesh has been hosting more than 13 lakh displaced people from neighbouring Myanmar. 

Around 70 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union on behalf of its 27 member states, and five international agencies like International Organisation for Migration and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies took part in the crucial event, officials said.

The chief adviser’s press wing confirmed that India, a neighbour to both Bangladesh and Myanmar, among some others skipped the opening session of the event on the Rohingya crisis.

‘First, devise a practical road map for a safe and dignified repatriation of the Rohingya with reasonable stabilisation of Rakhine,’ said Professor Yunus, also a Nobel peace laureate.

‘Second,’ he said, ‘Exert effective pressure on Myanmar and the Arakan Army to end violence against the Rohingyas and start their sustainable repatriation, beginning with those who have recently arrived in Bangladesh, and those who are internally displaced.’

In the third point, he called for mobilising international support to stabilise the Rakhine State and place international civilian presence to monitor the stabilization.

In the fourth, he urged supporting confidence building measures for a sustainable integration of the Rohingyas in Rakhine society and governance while, in the fifth, he asked for mobilising donors’ contribution to fully fund the Joint Response Plan.

In the sixth point, the chief adviser called for pursuing accountability and restorative justice.

 And finally, he underlined the need for dismantling the narco-economy, and combating trans-boundary crimes.

He said that the repatriation of the Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their homeland was the only solution to the crisis as their plight continued since the genocide began eight years back in the Rakhine State, now largely controlled by the ethnic armed group Arakan Army. 

‘The Rohingya crisis has originated in Myanmar. Its solution lies there,’ Yunus said while leading a Bangladesh delegation to the high-level conference.

He called upon the international community to start working for their expeditious repatriation to Rakhine.

Professor Yunus said that initiatives to end the crisis were lacking while the international funding faced alarming shortfalls.

‘As funding declines, the only peaceful option is to begin their repatriation. This will entail far fewer resources than continuing their international protection.  The Rohingyas have consistently pronounced their desire to go back home.  As an immediate step, those who recently crossed into Bangladesh escaping conflict must be allowed to repatriate,’ he said.

He said that the world cannot keep the Rohingyas waiting any longer from returning home.

‘Today, let us pledge to act together to resolve the crisis once and for all.  Bangladesh stands ready to extend its full cooperation to this end,’ Yunus told the international community.

He said that Bangladesh was a victim of the crisis and was forced to bear huge financial, social, and environmental costs.

‘Criminal activities, including narco-flows into Bangladesh through Rakhine, threaten our social fabric. Given our developmental challenges, including unemployment and poverty, we cannot afford to allow employment of Rohingyas inside Bangladesh,’ he added.

The Rohingya crisis has worsened with more displaced people from the Rakhine State entering Bangladesh while not a single person of them has returned to their homeland over the past eight years since the large-scale exodus on August 25, 2017.

The funding from international agencies for the Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh camps, mostly in Cox’s Bazar, has now shrunk, multiplying the crisis for Bangladesh.  

Neither Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral efforts nor a trilateral initiative involving China for the repatriation of the Rohingyas, an ethnic minority community which is denied citizenship and rights to land ownership in its own country, has made any progress so far, except 1,80,000 Rohingyas verified by the Myanmar authorities for their return to their country  out of a pre-selected list of 8,00,000 living in Bangladesh camps.

Marking the 8th ‘Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day’ observed on August 25, Professor Muhammad Yunus at an event in Cox’s Bazar first unveiled a seven-point proposal for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis, urging the international community to undertake collective efforts to stop the Myanmar Junta and the Arakan Army from unleashing violence against the Rohingyas.

In August 2017, around eight lakh Rohingyas crossed into Bangladesh to save their lives from a military crackdown in the Rakhine State, Professor Yunus mentioned, saying that Bangladesh now hosted around 13 lakh displaced Rohingyas, including 32,000 annual newborns in the camps.

Some Rohingyas have also taken refuge in India, which has recently pushed nearly 200 Rohingya people, including 50 registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in India, into Bangladesh.

Proposals for Sustainable Solution to Rohingya Crisis

• Devise practical roadmap for safe, dignified repatriation
• Exert effective pressure on Myanmar, Arakan Army to end violence in Rakhine
• Mobilise international support to stabilise Rakhine
• Support confidence building measures for sustainable integration of Rohingya
• Mobilise donors’ contribution to fully fund Joint Response Plan
• Pursue accountability, restorative justice
• Dismantle narco-economy and combat trans-boundary crimes