Bangladesh: Today, Mahmudul Hassan, the Supreme Court lawyer sent a legal notice through registry mail to the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Law, the Deputy Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar and the Commissioner of Refugee Relief and Repatriation, demanding the removal of Rohingyas to SAARC, BIMSTEC, ASEAN countries on sharing basis within 10 days of receiving notice.
According to the notice, Bangladesh has sheltered 1.2 million Rohingyas from Myanmar in its territory. In addition about 30 thousand Rohingya children are born every year. The government of Bangladesh is spending 120 million US dollars every year to nurture them; Which is about 13 thousand crores in Bangladeshi Taka.
Claiming that the Bangladesh government has given shelter to these 1.2 million Rohingyas without following international laws and customs, the notice further states, “The hard-earned money of the people of Bangladesh is being spent on the Rohingyas in a completely illegal manner.”
According to international law and customs, another state can grant asylum to a persecuted population if any of the three conditions are met.
Referring to this, the notice also said, ‘Firstly, if the asylum-granting state is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, then that state is legally bound to grant asylum to refugees. Second, when an oppressed population engages in armed struggle for the establishment of an independent state, neighboring states may grant political asylum to that population. Third, if more than one state has agreed to accept refugees collectively.’
But the regretful thing is, the notice also claims that international laws and norms have not been followed in providing shelter to a large number of Rohingyas. In this situation, Bangladesh cannot single-handedly shelter the Rohingyas. The regional organizations have to take responsibility for these Rohingyas. In this case, the states which are bigger in size should take more number of Rohingya refugees, this is the international practice.
The legal notice cites as an example, “Millions of Syrian refugees entered EU countries during the Syrian civil war.” The European Union then set quotas for its member states to accept refugees. With the current war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian refugees have sought refuge in Europe and Western countries. In this case no single country took the burden of these refugees but collectively.
Mahmudul also said in the legal notice that Bangladesh is a member of the regional organisations, namely South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), while Myanmar is a member of BIMSTEC and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
According to international practice, the burden of refugees can be taken on sharing basis, he stated in the legal notice.
The legal notice said that the Bangladesh government must follow international norms and immediately transfer the Rohingya population to SAARC, BIMSTEC and ASEAN countries.
The lawyer said in the notice that countries with large size will have to take more number of Rohingya refugees. Above all, these states should take responsibility for these Rohingyas on the basis of sharing. The responsibility of these Rohingyas cannot be imposed only on Bangladesh.
The lawyer said in the legal notice that he will file a writ petition with the High Court to uphold the interest of Bangladesh if the notice recipients don’t take necessary steps with the demand mentioned in the legal notice.
