Bangladesh Asks The United Nations To Participate In Solving The Problem Of Rohingya Refugees

A number of Rohingya refugees are active at the Ukhia Refugee Camp, Cox Bazar, Bangladesh, Thursday (28/9/2017). (ANTARA PHOTO/Akbar Nugroho Gumay/foc/aa.)

JAKARTA - Bangladesh calls for joint efforts with United Nations agencies to resolve the prolonged Rohingya crisis, and accuses Myanmar of using internal conflict as a pretext of delaying the return of the Muslim group.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud called for the request on Friday (31/5) in four separate meetings with UN officials in New York, the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday (1/6).

In the series of meetings, he highlighted the benefits of joint initiatives carried out by UN agencies, particularly in areas hit by conflicts in the world.

Bangladesh says there are about 1.3 million Rohingya residents living in the South Asian country.

Most of the Rohingya residents fled due to brutal military action in Rakhine, Myanmar in 2017.

Most of them were stationed in overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar. However, since late 2020, about 35,000 of them have been relocated to Bhasan Char Island.

In a meeting with the UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Myanmar Julie Bishop, Mahmud said "the conflict taking place in Myanmar is not a phenomenon and should not be used as an excuse to reject Rohingya repatriation."

Due to repatriation delays, refugee camps in Bangladesh have become the center of various crimes, including human trafficking, drug smuggling, and terrorism, he said during a meeting with Dennis Francis, the current president of the UN General Assembly.

Since February, about 750 members of the Myanmar border police and military have fled to Bangladesh.

"Most of them have been sent back, and the rest are in the process of returning to their country," Mahmud said in a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

Not only that, the branches of the group in Myanmar also caused casualties in Bangladesh. It is very necessary to prevent this from happening again," he said, as quoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bangladesh and reported by Antara.