News Desk,
Published: 27 Dec 2019
The International Crisis Group has urged Bangladesh to shift its focus to long-term plans for the Rohingya and their hosts instead of restricting the humanitarian response to meeting the refugees’ immediate needs.
The refugees are unlikely to return to their homeland in the near or even medium term, but Bangladesh’s policy toward the Rohingya remains focused on near-term repatriation out of fears that long-term plans will ease pressure on Myanmar, the ICG said in a report on Friday.
The Brussels-based group has also called for looking to external partners for support in making those plans succeed.
Bangladesh has tried to start the repatriation process twice in as many years after over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border following a crackdown by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State. It has already been hosting around 400,000 refugees who fled decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Repatriation efforts have stalled, crime and violence in the Rohingya camps and around them in southern Bangladesh appear to be on the rise, and Dhaka has “reacted increasingly sharply”, the ICG said.
In August, the government began rolling out stringent restrictions on refugees and NGOs that are interfering with the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the camps and alienating refugees, thus potentially aggravating local insecurity, according to the report.
“Bangladesh should reverse the counterproductive measures it has imposed, publicly acknowledge the long-term nature of the crisis it is facing and begin working with external partners and refugees to mobilise the resources needed to meet it,” it said.
“Dhaka’s response to the Rohingya displacement crisis is at an inflection point. If the Bangladeshi government continues to look at the situation through a short-term lens and falls into a pattern of heavy-handed responses to security challenges, the situation could become more fraught and dangerous for all concerned,” it added.
The ICG expressed concerns that in the absence of prospects for both repatriation and longer-term planning, “such a crackdown will only increase the refugees’ desperation”.
“It could even make them more susceptible to recruitment into criminal or extremist networks, which would add to the security challenges Bangladesh faces,” it added.
The International Crisis Group is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation Founded in 1995, the ICG is a transnational organisation working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world.
Link :https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2019/12/27/international-crisis-group-urges-bangladesh-to-shift-sights-to-long-term-plans-for-rohingya
The Brussels-based group has also called for looking to external partners for support in making those plans succeed.
Bangladesh has tried to start the repatriation process twice in as many years after over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border following a crackdown by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State. It has already been hosting around 400,000 refugees who fled decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Repatriation efforts have stalled, crime and violence in the Rohingya camps and around them in southern Bangladesh appear to be on the rise, and Dhaka has “reacted increasingly sharply”, the ICG said.
In August, the government began rolling out stringent restrictions on refugees and NGOs that are interfering with the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the camps and alienating refugees, thus potentially aggravating local insecurity, according to the report.
“Bangladesh should reverse the counterproductive measures it has imposed, publicly acknowledge the long-term nature of the crisis it is facing and begin working with external partners and refugees to mobilise the resources needed to meet it,” it said.
“Dhaka’s response to the Rohingya displacement crisis is at an inflection point. If the Bangladeshi government continues to look at the situation through a short-term lens and falls into a pattern of heavy-handed responses to security challenges, the situation could become more fraught and dangerous for all concerned,” it added.
The ICG expressed concerns that in the absence of prospects for both repatriation and longer-term planning, “such a crackdown will only increase the refugees’ desperation”.
“It could even make them more susceptible to recruitment into criminal or extremist networks, which would add to the security challenges Bangladesh faces,” it added.
The International Crisis Group is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation Founded in 1995, the ICG is a transnational organisation working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world.
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