Ensure Safe & Dignified Return of Rohingyas: UNSC to Myanmar

Taking cognisance of the Rohingya crisis, the UN has asked Myanmar to create favourable grounds for the safe and dignified return of the Rohingya Muslims. The United Nations Security Council on Monday urged the Myanmar government to ensure economic and social aid for the safe return of about one million Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh following “state-sponsored” violence in the Rakhine state.

The UNSC in its statement released on Monday said that there is need to escalate efforts and assistance in terms of providing economic and social aids to facilitate their return. The members also called for sanctions on the Myanmar government for inflicting such human rights violations on the Rohingyas. The 15 membered committee expressed serious concerns on the condition of the displaced refugees.

After a military crackdown in the Rakhine state in which the Rohingyas were systematically killed, raped and subjected to arsons, at least one million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. They are presently living in the Cox Bazar region of southeast Bangladesh where they dwell in extreme conditions worsened by financial crunch. The UN described the state-sponsored violence against the Rohingya Muslims as a typical example of ethnic cleansing.

The committee also highlighted the need to take conducive measures in the sense that the return of the displaced Muslims must be dignified and voluntary. Muslims form a minority in Myanmar and they lived in the Rakhine state before the military and Buddhist mobs unleashed large-scale human rights violations against them.

Myanmar fetched massive criticism from the international community for the spread of violence in the Rakhine state. Aung San Suu, the De facto leader of Myanmar was heavily criticised for her stunning silence.

After pressure from the global community, Myanmar has signed an agreement for the return of Rohingyas to Myanmar. The UN has made it very clear that the return has to be safe.