Ending Rohingya crisis

The international community must closely monitor the developments by sending neutral teams in that country while continually press the democratically elected government there to address the crisis

A three member delegation of Advisory Commission on Rakhine state – which is headed by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan– is due to arrive in Bangladesh today. The team is scheduled to visit the South-Eastern district of Cox's Bazar with the purpose to assess the actual state of the Rohingya now staying in different refugees' camps. Moreover, based on their four-day visit and observation, the Commission will also prepare and submit a report to Kofi Annan.   
However, the formation of the said commission was necessitated mainly due to the protracted carnage of Muslim Rohingya population by Myanmar military and Buddhists racists in the wake of 2012 violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. We feel, other than analysing and studying the plight and condition of refugees sheltered in Bangladesh, it is more important to gauge the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Rakhaine state of Myanmar. That said, the origin of crisis is there and not here in Bangladesh which is forced to act on humanitarian grounds by sheltering Rohingya refu­gees since the crisis is not being addressed by the Myanmar government. 
The Commission including Annan visited Rakhine state in December last year. Though his team labelled the visit’s outcome ‘encouraging’ but the report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights just last year, clearly documented a wide-range of human rights violations and abuses against the minorities in Myanmar, particularly against the Rohingya Muslim community. The outcome of that report should have been enough for the international community to collectively condemn the atrocities, press the Myanmar authorities to adopt reconciliatory measures in taking back the refugees. Moreover, the international community’s pressure should be more persistent until the Rohingya crisis is not resolved.    
Indisputably, the formation of Myanmar’s Advisory Commission on Rakhine state, headed by the former United Nations Secretary-General, is a commendable initiative - reflecting the current Myanmar government’s softening stance on the crisis but observation and reports do not end a crisis. We expect Myanmar‘s concerned authorities to take practical steps in resolving the crisis. Most importantly, the international community must closely monitor the development by sending neutral teams in that country while continually press the democratically elected government there to address the crisis with a sense of national obligation and compassion. So far we have heard a series of well-crafted rhetoric delivered from the Myanmar side, but now they must be translated into reality without wasting any more time.  

 

 

Ending Rohingya crisis

The international community must closely monitor the developments by sending neutral teams in that country while continually press the democratically elected government there to address the crisis

A three member delegation of Advisory Commission on Rakhine state which is headed by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is due to arrive in Bangladesh today. The team is scheduled to visit the South-Eastern district of Coxs Bazar with the purpose to assess the actual state of the Rohingya now staying in different refugees camps. Moreover, based on their four-day visit and observation, the Commission will also prepare and submit a report to Kofi Annan. However, the formation of the said commission was necessitated mainly due to the protracted carnage of Muslim Rohingya population by Myanmar military and Buddhists racists in the wake of 2012 violence in Myanmars Rakhine state. We feel, other than analysing and studying the plight and condition of refugees sheltered in Bangladesh, it is more important to gauge the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Rakhaine state of Myanmar. That said, the origin of crisis is there and not here in Bangladesh which is forced to act on humanitarian grounds by sheltering Rohingya refugees since the crisis is not being addressed by the Myanmar government. The Commission including Annan visited Rakhine state in December last year. Though his team labelled the visits outcome encouraging but the report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights just last year, clearly documented a wide-range of human rights violations and abuses against the minorities in Myanmar, particularly against the Rohingya Muslim community. The outcome of that report should have been enough for the international community to collectively condemn the atrocities, press the Myanmar authorities to adopt reconciliatory measures in taking back the refugees. Moreover, the international communitys pressure should be more persistent until the Rohingya crisis is not resolved. Indisputably, the formation of Myanmars Advisory Commission on Rakhine state, headed by the former United Nations Secretary-General, is a commendable initiative - reflecting the current Myanmar governments softening stance on the crisis but observation and reports do not end a crisis. We expect Myanmars concerned authorities to take practical steps in resolving the crisis. Most importantly, the international community must closely monitor the development by sending neutral teams in that country while continually press the democratically elected government there to address the crisis with a sense of national obligation and compassion. So far we have heard a series of well-crafted rhetoric delivered from the Myanmar side, but now they must be translated into reality without wasting any more time.