Minister: Rohingya rights must remain on agenda

Dhaka: The plight of the Rohingya refugees to return home must not fall off the international agenda and they must be given justice, she said, according to a press release issued yesterday by the British High Commission in Dhaka.

She said the international community must make sure that Rohingyas’ right to return remains high on the agenda.

Mordaunt, also the UK’s minister for women and equalities, arrived in Dhaka on Sunday on a three-day official visit. On Monday, she met Rohingya refugees at a food distribution centre in Kutupalong camp of Cox’s Bazar.

During a meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam at the capital’s state guesthouse Padma yesterday, the British minister said she would push for the changes needed in Myanmar to help the Rohingya return to their homes.

She said now was the time to look beyond short-term live-saving assistance support, to give them the skills they need to create sustainable lives both for themselves and their families.

“This major man-made humanitarian crisis has been ethnic cleansing on an industrial scale and I urge the government of Burma to create the necessary conditions that would allow those Rohingya currently living in Bangladesh to return.”

Talking to a small group of journalists in Dhaka yesterday, the minister said they want to see Rohingyas’ desire to return home is fulfilled.

Mordaunt, the first UK minister to visit Bangladesh since the Dec 30 national election, emphasised on unceasing joint efforts to protect both Rohingyas and the host communities in Bangladesh.

She said the UK would remain at the forefront of the efforts to try and get required conditions in Myanmar apart from addressing accountability issue.

Responding to another question, said access was incredibly important to Rakhine State which was something they had been calling for. — The Daily Star / Asia News Network