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Why Bangladesh Cannot Accommodate More Refugees From Myanmar?

Bangladesh informed the UN Security Council that it will no longer be able to accommodate more refugees from Myanmar. Bangladesh is paying the huge price for being responsible by allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees to stay in Bangladesh, said the Foreign Secretary.

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Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque informed a council meeting saying, ” the crisis over the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya sheltering in his country had gone from bad to worse and urged the council to take decisive action”.

“Is Bangladesh paying the price for being responsive and responsible in showing empathy to a persecuted minority population of a neighbouring country?” asked Bangladesh’s foreign secretary.

Recently, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres appreciated Bangladesh’s socio-economic development under the leadership of the current government. The foreign secretary also thanked the UN secretary general for his efforts towards finding a solution to the Rohingya crisis. He informed the UN chief about active and productive participation of Bangladesh in the upcoming high-level conference on climate change in September. “Bangladesh has been amazingly generous in the support they have given the Rohingya refugees,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

During a military campaign in 2017, the Muslim Rohingya were driven out of Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state. The United Nations so-called ethnic cleansing resulted in the migration of approximately 740,000 Muslim Rohingya, presently accommodated in Bangladesh’s camp.

“Here, I regret to inform the council that Bangladesh would no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar,” said Bangladesh Foreign Secretary. The United States has already criticized a deal between Bangladesh and Myanmar in which Myanmar agreed to take back some of the refugees and the United Nations stressed that the safety of the Rohingya is a condition for their return.

 “We are very disappointed that there hasn’t been more progress on getting the refugees back. The scale of what has been done to the Rohingya Muslims and the allegations of crimes against humanity really mark this out as one of the most terrible events of this century so far”, said British Ambassador Karen Pierce.

UN envoy Christine Schraner Burgener was reported that slow progress in efforts to help  Rohingya return home safely and also predicted that Myanmar’s elections next year could worsen the crisis. “The UN agencies had been given “insufficient” access to help prepare the return of the Rohingya”, the diplomat added.

Myanmar’s Ambassador Hau Do Suan said: “A huge physical as well as psychological barriers in the way of allowing the refugees return and it takes time and patience as well as courage to build trust and confidence among different communities in Rakhine.” China also supported its ally Myanmar as Chinese Deputy Ambassador Wu Haitao said: “It is up to the two countries to work out a solution.”

Recently, Bangladesh’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Md Shahriar Alam meet with British Minister for International Development, Penny Mordaunt. “We have devised some new strategies after reviewing things and you’ll see the implementation of those strategies soon,” said Md Shahriar Alam.

More News at EurAsian Times

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