On Monday (October 24) the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, while speaking in a high level panel discussion titled ‘5 Years of the Rohingya Crisis’ held at the United Kingdom Parliament by Bangladesh High Commission in London, said that Rohingya issue would not be fixed without justice and accountability and political transition in Myanmar.
“That is why, this time around, accountability must be ensured, justice must be delivered, and impunity must not be allowed by the international community to ensure the return of Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar,: he said this by mentioning more that under the generous patronage of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh spends $1.22 billion on food, shelter, health, education and skills development of the Rohingyas. The cost is increasing while international assistance is decreasing.
“After five long years of hosting Rohingyas, it is unjust that only Bangladesh will continue to carry this burden,’’ he said.
‘’We, therefore, call upon more Commonwealth, OIC members and western countries to join the ICJ case by the Gambia, which will expedite the justice for Rohingyas and facilitate their early return,’’ Shahriar said and also commended that UK’s diplomatic leadership at the UN Security Council as a penholder on Myanmar and hoped to see the UK explore all available council tools to enforce accountability, justice and sustainable returns of the Rohingyas.
During the occasion, Tariq Ahmad from Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Middle East, South Asia and the United Nations at the UK FCDO, paid tribute to Bangladesh’s founding President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his lifelong struggle to establish peace and justice and lauded prime minister Sheikh Hasina for showing ‘incredible generosity and humanity’ to host and protecting over a million Rohingyas. Even he reassured that the UK, as a long-standing friend and partner, would continue support to Bangladesh to find a durable solution to the persisting Rohingya crisis.
Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, director, Centre for Genocide Studies, Dhaka University; Tomas Ojea Quintana, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar and DPRK, Priya Pillai, Head of Asia Justice Coalition Secretariat, Bangkok, Professor Payam Akhavan, ICJ counsel to the Gambia and ICC counsel to Bangladesh, Antonia Mulvey, former investigator to the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar and Executive Director of Legal Action Worldwide, Nicholas Koumjiian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar under UNHCR, Maung Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation in the UK; and Hasina Begum, a Rohingya survivor from 2017 Clearance Operations participated in a panel discussion.
