Rohingya Refugee Crisis Worsening in Bangladesh

Bangladesh's leader stated that the crisis involving Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar is now "going beyond the camps" where they are staying and "becoming a regional threat".

News ID: 447363

Date: 29 September 2019 - 09:31

RNA - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina noted that the international community must "understand the untenability of the situation", Asia News reported.

She said Bangladesh will continue to work with Myanmar to encourage repatriation of the Rohingya.

She has proposed at the UN this week a resolution ensuring that Myanmar and the international community must ensure the safety of any Rohingya returnees.

The premier added that the voluntary return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state "in safety, security and dignity" is the only solution to the problem.

"We are bearing the burden of a crisis which is Myanmar's own making," She noted.

In late August 2017, nearly 750,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya fled Rakhine State for Bangladesh - joining 200,000 already there - after Myanmar's armed forces launched a brutal crackdown following attacks on security posts.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, are not recognised as an ethnic group in Myanmar, despite having lived there for generations. They have been denied citizenship and are rendered stateless.

A UN-established investigation last year recommended the prosecution of Myanmar's top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the crackdown on the Rohingya.

In late August, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released a new report concluding that rapes of Rohingya women by Myanmar's security forces were systemic and demonstrated an intent to commit genocide.

The UN has called the Rohingya crisis a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Since August 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience".

Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.

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