Speakers at a webinar have said that the international community is not doing enough to resolve the Rohingya crisis, and that the powerful countries continue to have their businesses grow with Myanmar despite the human rights situation.
“No, international community is not doing enough,” said British MP Stephen Kinnock, also shadow minister for Asia and the Pacific, at the webinar organised by the Youth Policy Forum.
“Rohingya crisis is not a practical problem for Myanmar. They are not facing the music,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Special Assistant Barrister Shah Ali Farhad said, pointing at the Myanmar’s trade data with different countries including the European Union and the neighbouring ASEAN countries and China.
“If you take the EU example which is always very vocal for human rights issues around the world, it is one of the biggest trading partners of the Myanmar – the third largest after China and Thailand,” he said, adding that the trade volume increased to $3.4 billion in 2019 from $500 million in 2015.
The latest crisis began in August 2017 when Myanmar military’s crackdown, termed as the ‘ethnic cleansing’, forced Rohingya population to flee the Rakhine State and took shelter in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has given shelter to over 800,000 Rohingya refugees since then. But, nobody returned, despite Bangladesh’s efforts.
Barrister Farhad said the principal roadblock the government was facing was “the lack of confidence” within Rohingya population to go to Myanmar.
“Because they fear for their safety and they are not at all assured about their own rights and protection if they go back,” he said, adding that we do not see a “very genuine willingness” from Myanmar to take back these people as their own.
“They (Myanmar) sometimes do couple of cosmetic exercises that they are very serious about it,” he said, urging the international community to give clear message to Myanmar that they must take action.
“The UK government can give a very clear signal that unless Myanmar government takes serious steps, and confidence building steps to ensure that Rohingyas can be repatriated, there might be economic consequences too….not just the listing of few generals and giving some travel embargoes,” he said
The UK government has recently announced that the GSP privilege, anything but arms deal, will remain as usual even after Britain’s departure from the EU. That means, despite the atrocities against Rohingyas, the full trade benefits will continue for Myanmar.
British MP Stephen Kinnock also suggests exerting diplomatic and political pressure to resolve the crisis.
“We should be extremely respectful and inspired by what Gambia has done to take the case to the international court of justice. There was a prima facie case of genocide. We need to make sure the prima facie ruling (at the ICJ) now turned into full and definite rule,” he said, adding that, “we need to give full support to Gambia.”
For successful repatriation, he said the fundamental challenge is that they are denied of their citizenship.
“It’s shameful. Giving citizenship (by Myanmar) should be the number one objective of the international community,” said the British MP.
