Bangladesh urges ASEAN to address Rohingya crisis
Staff Reporter :
The Foreign Ministry has urged the representatives of ASEAN and Indonesia to play an active role in addressing the Rohingya crisis, which has been lingering for a long time.
While holding a courtesy call with Indonesian Ambassador Heru Hartanto Subolo and the head of the mission of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Abdusattor Esoev, Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud made the remarks in his ministry on Monday.
While holding a meeting with the Indonesian Ambassador, they exchanged views on enhancing mutual interests and bolstering bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries.
The Foreign Minister, Hasan Mahmud, also highlighted the high possibility of investment in Bangladesh, as the country has prepared one hundred economic zones.
The minister also thanked the Indonesian ambassador for their investment here and for setting up a palm oil refinery in Bangladesh.
In a separate meeting with the IOM representative, the foreign minister told him that repatriation was the only solution for the resolution of the Rohingya crisis.
The minister also drew the attention of the IOM representative for climate migrants.
The head of the IOM mission assures the minister that they will continue their support for these issues in the upcoming days.
The Rohingya crisis is deepening every year since the influx began in June 2017, when the Rohingyas were being flushed out by the Myanmar military junta.
Since then, various efforts have been taken to repatriate the Rohingyas to their homeland in Myanmar, but no Rohingya has returned so far.
“The international communities have urged Bangladesh that there is no environment in Rakhine for the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
The repatriation has to be voluntary and sustainable,” they said.
Meanwhile, the international fund for the Rohingyas is also decreasing every year, and it is becoming difficult to support the Rohingyas to meet their food and other provisions.
Besides, the Rohingya camps are being used as a breeding ground for various criminal activities as more and more crimes are committed every day and many Rohingyas are dying from infighting.
The government of Bangladesh still could not state when the Rohingya crisis would be resolved.