It was an unprecedented humanitarian gesture when Bangladesh opened her door to the hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas fleeing ‘ethnic cleansing’ from the neighbouring Rakhine State on August 25, 2017.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, based on the country’s own experience in the 1971 war of independence when millions of Bangladeshis had to take shelter to India, announced to stand by the persecuted Rohingyas until things became normal for their return.
The government launched its diplomatic efforts to send them back and signed deals with Myanmar. But three years on, nothing has changed in Myanmar. Even a single Rohingya could return to their motherland.
Over 1 million Rohingya refugees, who were driven away by the Myanmar military-backed government three years ago, have appeared as a serious burden on the society and economy of Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earned the Mother of Humanity title by giving the helpless Rohingya refugees shelter and other humanitarian assistances. Rohingyas in thousands started fleeing to Bangladesh on August 25 in 2017 to escape Myanmar’s state-sponsored persecution in the Rakhine state. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced giving them shelter by saying “If my government can feed over 160 million people of Bangladesh, we would also be able to arrange food for 1 million people more.” Her announcement came at a time when most of the global leaders were mum over the persecution of the religions minority.
The big powers and the international community have limited their activities within the humanitarian relief, though experts say the crisis is more than just humanitarian assistance.
With the recent clearance operations by Tatmadaw against the Arakan Army in Rakhine and the election in November in Myanmar, Bangladesh has actually hit an impasse in terms of the repatriation process.
“We are now faced with a strategy on part of Myanmar authorities to do nothing to restore normalcy in Rakhine, but to create difficulty for prospective returnees, and finally to do whatever needed to frustrate efforts to repatriation,” foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen said on Monday at an event.
Professor of international relations Delwar Hossain considers this as a “big failure” of the international community to deal with the worst-ever humanitarian crisis after World War 2.
“Bangladesh did its best. But it’s not a bilateral issue. It’s a regional and international issue. But all big powers failed to do the needful in this regard,” he told Bangladesh Post.
“It’s natural that Myanmar would not cooperate with Bangladesh as they don’t want to take them back. We need to highlight the failure of the international community and the regional groupings such as ASEAN and the neighbours India, China to resolve the crisis,” he said.
US Ambassador Earl Miller at the discussion organised by the North South University said the United States will continue “to be a leader in providing humanitarian assistance, applying diplomatic pressure, and serving as a catalyst in the regional and global response to the Rohingya crisis.”
“But, as we all know, this has to be an effort by the global community,” he said, appealing for “every responsible and right-minded nation to join us in finding a solution to the Rohingya crisis”.
“Every right-minded action counts. Every right-minded action saves lives. We have seen it the past three years. We know it to be true.”
The Rohingya crisis is a complete tale of marginalisation of a community from all aspects- economic, cultural, social and finally political.
They are the victim of a culture of persecution from Myanmar, the country that maintained a culture of atrocities against them, to destroy them as a community.
As such, solutions to the crisis must be found in Rakhine and in Myanmar.
“In that sense, this is Myanmar’s internal problem. The solution must therefore be sought inside Myanmar,” the foreign secretary, Momen, said while speaking at a webinar on the crisis.
“They have taken refuge in Bangladesh to flee atrocities and Bangladesh has opened her door so that their lives are safe temporarily. But, they must go back to their country of origin.”
“Given the enormity of challenges associated with longer-term stay on foreign soils, I would rather demand the international community to refocus on the creation of basic services, safety and security and options for livelihood for returnees,” he said.
“They should make sincere and greater efforts to secure conditions for Rohingyas to return to Myanmar and reintegrate into Myanmar society, with a clear pathway to citizenship.
“As we mark 3 years of forcible displacement of the majority of Rohingya from their places of origin, these should be our pledge to the community that was subjected to well-planned machinations to destroy their identity.
He said as earlier exoduses in 1978 and 1992-93 led to greater force of repression on their return, Bangladesh this time has been fully convinced of the need for creating necessary conditions for sustainable return, so as to avoid similar episodes in future.
As for atrocities committed on them and violation of globally recognised principles, this is for the international community to examine and redress.
These accountability aspects of the Rohingya thus make it an international issue. “Very important work is currently underway in ICC & ICJ to pursue accountability and Justice,” the foreign secretary said.
“Bangladesh’s approach to the Rohingya issue seeks to factor in all these dimensions with an undeniable fact that Myanmar is our neighbour with which Bangladesh has always sought to maintain an engagement of interdependence, mutual benefit and mutual respect.
“As a proof of such neighbourliness, Bangladesh has always stayed away from Myanmar’s internal difficulties and challenges in the spirit of Foreign Policy dictum of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman “Friendship to all, malice towards none”.
“I must, however, be honest that Myanmar has generally failed to appreciate such a friendly approach and exhibited nonchalance to persistent overtures of friendship to develop sectoral cooperation and friendly people-to-people contacts. Bangladesh’s overall approach to the Rohingya issue must be analysed in this overall context.”
Approach to repatriation of Rohingyas
Bangladesh from the very beginning tried to find a peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis through bilateral consultation.
The foreign office engaged Myanmar early for sustainable repatriation in an environment of safety, security and dignity.
As such, bilaterally agreed Framework Arrangement and other instruments for repatriation are anchored in the restoration of normalcy, creation of basic conditions for lives and livelihood as well as voluntariness.
At Myanmar’s insistence and the encouragement of a few other countries, Bangladesh tried repatriation twice.
“Failure of these efforts attest to the fact that Rohingyas do not feel comfortable in the prevailing condition, which do not make returnees convinced of the sincerity of the Myanmar authorities and also of the majority community- Buddhists of Rakhine,” the foreign secretary said.
“Bangladesh expects friends of Myanmar and other countries in the region to convince Myanmar of the imperative to make material changes in Rakhine- security-wise, economically and politically.”
“Instead, many international interlocutors are found trying to appease Myanmar while heaping all their demands on the doorstep of Bangladesh, the second victim of the Rohingya crisis.
“We expect international partners to come forward to convince Myanmar to change course and to play their roles as agreed with Myanmar at paragraph 14 of the Framework Arrangement,” he said, highlighting Bangladesh’s all out efforts to keep them safe and productive in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.
“Our combined efforts have helped avoid collapses of hillsides or slopes, outbreak of epidemic and contain COVID pandemic,” he said.
“However, I must clarify here that we would certainly not prefer investments which will directly or indirectly prolong the refugee situation and create greater and newer pull factors for remaining Rohingyas inside Rakhine.
“Bangladesh government rejects any notion of local integration,” he asserted.
Risk factors
The Rohingya influx has triggered a demographic imbalance in Cox’s Bazar. The total number of local populations in Ukhia and Tekhnaf is about 570,000; whereas the temporary sheltered Rohingya is the double of host communities.
Bangladesh has sacrificed over 6,800 acre of forest land to host the displaced Rohingya from Myanmar. That area suffered a huge loss of biodiversity and wildlife. Deforestation in the hilly areas has increased the risk of landslides, raised the threats of flash flood, and intensified the likelihood of damages from cyclones.
Agricultural production in Cox’s Bazar has been affected as most of the cultivable lands there are being used for shelters, operational activities and infrastructures of the UN agencies and others. The shortage of agricultural land has eventually created an enormous pressure on local agriculture as well as on the food supply chain there.
The massive increase of daily demand of fresh water for drinking, irrigation and manufacturing works and thus excessive dependence on the ground water has developed a threat of water contamination and scarcity in Cox’s Bazar region.
Health and sanitation have become a concern in the camp areas due to fecal contamination in surface and groundwater reservoirs. Water borne diseases have thus become a major threat for the host communities nearby the camps.
“Internet is not a suitable medium for targeted authentic, I repeat authentic instant community messaging. We have many examples of inappropriate usage of social media. Baseless rumours and misinformation can create panic and destabilise the camps. However, responding to requests for greater internet connectivity, we have taken a decision on lifting restrictions on 3G/4G mobile network which will be effective soon,” the foreign secretary said.
He also highlighted the crimes in and around the camps and said that in order to reduce all the risks, Bangladesh has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructural development of the Bhashan Char river island to accommodate a maximum of 100,000 persons.
“306 Rohingyas rescued in the Bay of Bengal and sheltered in the Island are doing well. We will soon conduct a go-and-see visit for relatives of sheltered Rohingyas and other representatives. If they find the place better than the cramped camps in Cox’s bazar, we expect to commence initial transfer of Rohingyas there after the Monsoon season,” he said.
Bangladesh is also confronted with multilayered approaches as what the foreign secretary said.
“Firstly, bilateral with Myanmar, secondly, regional as the role of ASEAN and the neighbours of Myanmar like India, China and even Japan & Korea would remain crucial in finding a durable solution of the problem.
“Thirdly, multilateral as at the UN, engagements at the General Assembly, Security Council, Human Rights Council, SRSG and at other relevant mechanisms & forums the issue needs to be monitored and search for solution should remain a priority.
“Fourthly, international or global community’s response in terms of accountability and justice such as media, think tanks, human rights groups, academia, students, civil society, in fact holders of global conscience, should continue to play their due role.
“Their collective response has already acted as catalysts for the accountability response at the ICC and ICJ. We will continue to seek their urgent attention to carry forward the work which will also work as a confidence building measure for the Rohingyas in the context of their return.”
