Sheikh Hasina Calls for Global Pressure to Ensure Repatriation of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh to Myanmar

Bangladesh plans to raise the issue of Rohingya refugees in the upcoming 73rd UN General Assembly session and urge the international community to mount more pressure on Myanmar to resolve the continuing crisis.

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent out this message on Sunday while inaugurating the regional office for the Islamic Development Bank. She said the global community needs to unite to increase pressure on Myanmar to ensure the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Rakhine province.

"Despite the negative impact on own resources, ecology and the local population, we have opened our border to give shelter to a huge number of Rohingya Muslims on humanitarian grounds," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the capital, Dhaka.

"I urge the international community to take specific steps to build up pressure on Myanmar to implement the deal," Hasina added, without specifying which measures she had in mind.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for New York on September 21 to attend and deliver a similar speech in the UNGA session. She is expected to place fresh proposals of Bangladesh's demand for early repatriation of over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals as well as implementation of the Kofi Annan Commission's recommendations to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

The Rohingya crisis is expected to feature prominently in the upcoming UNGA as the initial report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar has called for investigation and prosecution of Myanmar’s top military generals for genocide as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine State.

The Mission established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017 has found patterns of gross human rights violation in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan states that “undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law”, principally by Myanmar's military.

A more comprehensive report is to be published and presented to the Human Rights Council on September 18.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 10, 2018 05:48 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).