Rohingya crisis a ‘Grave Human Crisis’

President of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly Dr Khalilur Rahman has described the Rohingya crisis as a “grave human crisis”, saying violence cannot resolve conflicts and urging countries to pursue dialogue and negotiation.

“The lesson I carry is this: violence will not solve any problem. It will only defer it and make it worse.

Only through talks and negotiation, only by coming together, can we resolve these issues,” he said in an interview with UN News as the high-level week of the 81st UN General Assembly got underway.

Reflecting on his direct experience of the Rohingya crisis, Khalilur said the displaced population had endured attacks, destruction of homes and villages and forced displacement, while also demonstrating resilience and a strong desire to return home.

“But I also saw their resilience, their ability to survive and their yearning to go home,” he said.

He recalled a visit by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Cox’s Bazar last year, when more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees gathered on a Ramadan evening to share iftar with him, holding placards saying: “we want to go home”.

For Khalilur, the experience illustrates why the General Assembly remains important as a forum where countries can come together at the highest level and seek peaceful solutions.

“That’s why I see such value in the assembly – a place where people gather at the highest levels, in a safe environment, to work out the best way forward,” he said.

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.3 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, according to a senior Bangladeshi official.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is expected to put the protracted crisis prominently before world leaders during his first address to the UN General Assembly on September 24.

Bangladesh is also scheduled to host a side event on the Rohingya issue on September 23, where the government will seek stronger international cooperation for the earliest possible repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam on Sunday described the Rohingya crisis as an “ongoing problem” and said Bangladesh would again use the gathering of world leaders to highlight its scale and the challenges it creates.

“We will once again present to the global community the magnitude of the Rohingya issue, the challenges it poses and the international cooperation, assistance and support Bangladesh requires,” Siam said.

Bangladesh has consistently maintained that the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingyas to Myanmar is the only viable and lasting solution to the crisis.

Khalilur, who took the gavel as president of the UN General Assembly’s 81st session, said restoring trust in the United Nations is the central theme of his one-year presidency.

He said the high-level week provides a rare opportunity to hear directly from world leaders about how they view global and regional challenges and what they expect from the UN.

“One of the things I’m looking for most closely is what they say about reviving trust in the organisation,” he said, describing the issue as the highlight of his presidency.

Khalilur reflected on the founding of the UN in 1945, recalling the Yalta meeting involving US President Franklin D Roosevelt, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, where plans for the post-war international order were discussed.

He said the UN was subsequently established with the central aspiration of preventing a recurrence of the devastating conflicts that had engulfed the world during the two World Wars.

“When the UN was formally created in San Francisco, delegations gave it a standing ovation and kept standing for a while. That represented the aspiration that the UN would be able to give peace,” he said.

The UN has helped the world avoid another global conflagration on the scale of the two World Wars over the past eight decades, he said.

At the same time, Khalilur acknowledged that the organisation has failed to prevent many conflicts and that progress on development has often been slow.

“We have to work hard to ensure that the Security Council works more coherently and delivers as it was expected to,” he said.

On human rights, he noted that only about four per cent of total UN spending goes towards the area, while acknowledging that significant progress has nevertheless been made.

“We have to work hard along all three pillars to bring back the confidence the organisation had at its creation,” he said, adding that the task would require the combined efforts of member states and other stakeholders.

Khalilur also identified artificial intelligence as one of the major challenges facing the international community.

Responding to questions about criticism that the General Assembly has limited influence compared with the often gridlocked Security Council, Khalilur pointed to the continued presence of world leaders at the annual high-level week.

“If the assembly were useless, there wouldn’t be a high-level week, and Heads of State wouldn’t come. There must be some utility,” he said.

He described the General Assembly’s ability to bring together virtually every country in the world as one of its greatest strengths.

“What I see is the great convening power of a body that represents the entire world – there’s no other place quite like it,” he said.