WE HAVE BEEN SILENT ON THE ROHINGYA

IHAVE struggled for days to write this. All that I have been privileged to work for and write on for years will be in vain if I don’t. As a human being, I am ashamed beyond words. All humanity must feel utterly disgraced.

That the plight of the Rohingya people is allowed to reach this inhumane stage is incomprehensible if human beings have any dignity left.

We, the people of our world, our governments and leaders, faiths, regional and global bodies, everyone of us is morally responsible for this greatest tragedy of our times.

It is not something that happened overnight. The brutalising, systematic elimination and driving out of the Rohingya people from where they have lived for generations has continued with increasing violence for decades.

Yet, we have been silent, while, with impunity and endorsed by the authorities, thousands of Rohingya children, women and men were, and are being, assaulted, massacred or forced to flee to an unknown future, facing peril, starvation, disease and death.

Is there concrete evidence? Yes, there is overwhelming evidence. Don’t believe otherwise. Not even the excuse that some Rohingya groups used aggression against the authorities. Unable to bear the dire persecution, some of the Rohingya had resorted to use of force to defend themselves and their families.

United Nations sources, international humanitarian bodies, satellite imagery and, above all, the blood-chilling firsthand accounts of victims corroborate claims about the persecution of the Rohingya.

But, it was always someone else’s problem. We hid behind concepts such as consensus and non-interference. We were afraid to offend lest we had to forego some political, trade or personal benefit or, worse, be accused of some failing of our own. Even the word “Rohingya” is obliterated and forbidden. And, several leaders have obliged. What shame.

Action is what is needed and it has to be now. Asean nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member states, China as a UN Security Council permanent member and India — given these countries’ multi-facted links and concerns — must immediately call for an emergency session of the UN Security Council, pass a resolution and implement action to follow forthwith under the oversight and participation of a direct contact mission.

This, has been done in many instances and has brought immense relief, even if not fully redressed.

We are all accountable for our inaction in allowing gross inhumanity to be committed while we choose the path of least resistance. It is in our hands to help our fellow humankind.

Let’s not fail the Rohingya.

RUEBEN DUDLEY Former United Nations/International Labour Organisation regional deputy director for Asia & the Pacific