Bangladesh is going to observe the World Refugee Day at a time when it has over 1.1 million displaced persons from Myanmar on its soil.
Rohingyas, the most persecuted community in the world, are compelled to flee their homeland due to atrocities committed on them by the Myanmar military force.
According to the UNHCR, wars, other violence and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high of 68 million in 2017, led by the crisis in Congo, South Sudan’s war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
The Myanmar military force is executing its plan to banish the community for the last 40 years and in 2017 there was big push and in one shot, they got rid of almost all Rohingyas.
A government official seeking anonymity said, “Myanmar does not have good intention to take them back and their lies the main problem.
“We tried to solve the problem bilaterally, but now we understood that without international pressure, it cannot be resolved.”
The government has taken up the issue with the international community including the United Nations and received overwhelm support from them.
In the recent visit of a UNSC delegation manifested that at least the global powers have reached a consensus to solve the problem; now the question arises, how.
Another official said, “We have put forward a list of expectations to the delegation and explained them this is blot on the humanity and they must act.”
In the list, Bangladesh urged the Security Council to take decisive action for Rohingya repatriation, impose sanction on Myanmar, make Myanmar implement Kofi Annan Commission report and ensure accountability of the perpetrators.
About the repatriation process, he said Bangladesh and Myanmar signed deals with UNHCR, but conducive environment is yet to be created on the other side of the border.
“Still we see unabated anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya campaign in Rakhine,” he said.
Houses of Rohingyas were burnt down and there is no visible progress in constructing new homes for them, he added.
Unless and otherwise, citizenship - the root cause – for Rohingya is addressed, it will be difficult to send them back, the official said.