Bangladesh’s interim chief Muhammad Yunus has warned that his nation can not present further help for the 1.5 million Rohingya refugees it shelters, calling on the worldwide group to work on a roadmap for the voluntary return of the persecuted minority again to their homeland in Myanmar.
Talking in Cox’s Bazar on Monday at a two-day conference marking eight years because the mass expulsion of the largely Muslim minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the Nobel peace laureate unveiled a seven-point plan aimed toward securing the refugees’ secure and voluntary return.
“Their proper to return to their very own residence and homeland needs to be secured,” he stated, urging all events to develop “a sensible roadmap for his or her secure and dignified, voluntary and sustainable return… The time is for motion proper now.” Yunus additionally appealed to donors to reverse declining funding, stressing that elevated help was important to maintain life-saving support programmes.
His proposals name for a right away finish to violence in Myanmar, the creation of dialogue platforms to ease tensions between ethnic teams, and stronger involvement from ASEAN and regional powers to revive stability.
Yunus urged governments worldwide to face agency in opposition to Myanmar’s “heinous crime of ethnic cleaning” and to rethink their relations with the nation’s army regime.
He additionally referred to as for renewed momentum in accountability efforts on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) and Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC), insisting that justice was central to ending the genocide and making certain the Rohingya’s secure return.
Almost 800,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in August 2017 following a brutal army crackdown that the United Nations has described as genocide.
1000’s extra have arrived since. “The influence on our economic system, sources, atmosphere, ecosystem, society, and governance has been large. I thank our host group and the individuals of Bangladesh for his or her wholehearted help and massive sacrifices,” Yunus stated.
Repatriation stays harmful
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Cox’s Bazar, stated hundreds of Rohingya marched to demand justice and repatriation as they noticed the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.
“Folks right here we’ve been speaking to, they’ve been out demonstrating across the camps immediately. They’re calling for 2 issues. One is for justice for the genocide in 2017, eight years in the past to at the present time. Secondly, about repatriating them. They completely wish to go residence. That is on the high of everybody’s record of calls for right here,” he stated.
Cheng added that ongoing combating throughout the border made any repatriation effort tough. “It’s nonetheless a really unstable scenario inside Myanmar. So what Bangladesh or the remainder of the worldwide communities can do to get them residence at this stage may be very exhausting to see.”
On Monday, greater than rights teams in a joint assertion referred to as on the worldwide group to pursue accountability for genocide and different atrocities dedicated in opposition to Rohingya individuals in Myanmar.
“Eight years on from the beginning of the Myanmar army’s genocidal assaults in opposition to Rohingya, not a single particular person has been held criminally accountable. This can be a deep stain on the world’s conscience,” stated Patrick Phongsathorn, Senior Advocate at Fortify Rights.
“It’s not too late to deal with this injustice. The UN Safety Council ought to instantly refer the scenario in Myanmar to the Worldwide Legal Courtroom, and all UN Member States ought to discover each attainable avenue to pursue justice for the Rohingya.”
The Cox’s Bazar convention comes earlier than a UN convention in New York on September 30, however prospects for a secure and swift return stay slim.
Bangladesh has registered greater than 150,000 new arrivals since early 2024, whilst combating in Rakhine worsens and international funding dries up following United States President Donald Trump’s freeze on humanitarian support.
The World Meals Programme, which relied on US contributions for nearly half its 2024 funds, warned this month that 57 % of households in central Rakhine can’t meet fundamental meals wants.
Contained in the camps, meals scarcity is a day by day wrestle. Refugees reside on a month-to-month ration card price about $12.
In 2022, the ICJ, the best courtroom of the UN, superior a separate case in opposition to Myanmar, introduced by The Gambia, that investigates accountability for the genocide in opposition to the Rohingya.
The prosecutor of the ICC in 2024 requested a global arrest warrant for Myanmar’s army ruler, Senior Normal Min Aung Hlaing, for the persecution of the Rohingya.
