UN team pledges to end Rohingya Muslim crisis in Bangladesh
A UN Security Council team visiting Bangladesh promised yesterday to work to resolve a crisis involving hundreds of thousands of R oh ingya Muslims who have fled to the country to escape military- led violence in Burma.
The diplomats, who visited the sprawling camps and border points where about 700,000 Rohingya have taken shelter, said their visit was an opportunity to see the situation first hand.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, said he and his fellow team members would not look away from the crisis after their visit, though he warned that there were no simple so lutions.
“It’s very necessary to come and see everything at place herein Bangladesh and Myanmar. But there is no magic solution, there is no magic stick to solve all these issues,” he said at a news conference at the Kutupalong refugee camp in the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar.
The team members will conclude their three - day visit to Bangladesh today, when they leave for Burma.
The recent spas mofviolence in Burma began when Rohingya insurgents staged a series of attacks on 25 August last year on about 30 security outposts and other targets. In a subsequent crackdown described by UN and US officials as“ethnic cleansing ,” Burmese security forces have been accused of rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed.
The diplomats, comprising representatives from the five permanent Security Council members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the United States – and ten non- perma- nent member states, talked to about 120 refugees, including some rape victims.
Peru’s ambassador to the UN, Gustavo Adolfo Meza Cuadra Velasqez, said he and his fellow team members were ready to “work hard” and were “very concerned” about the crisis.
The refugees are seeking UN protection to return home. The UN refugee agency and Bangladesh recently finalised a memorandum of understanding that said the repatriation process must be “safe, voluntary and dignified … in line with international standards”.
Karen Pierce, the UK’ s ambassador to the UN, said the Security Council would continue to work on enabling the refugees to return to Burma.
Rohingya are denied citizenship in overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma, where they have faced persecution for decades. They are derided as “Bengalis”, and many in Burma believe they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.