Take initiatives for inter-regional diplomacy: BNPTake initiatives for inter-regional diplomacy: BNP

The Daily Star

Staff Correspondent
October 03, 2020

Expressing concern over mobilisation of Myanmar army in the border area, BNP yesterday asked the government to take initiative for inter-regional diplomacy.

"The government's weak foreign policy is clear to Myanmar. Taking full advantage of this, Myanmar showed the courage of mobilising their military forces in Bangladesh-Myanmar international border," said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the party.

Bangladeshi officers beat Rohingya over hunger strike, claims rights group

The Telegraph 

By Nicola Smith,  

Asia Correspondent  

2 October 2020 

Human Rights Watch alleges the beatings occurred on the remote island of Bhasan Char last month 

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have been displaced since 2017 Credit: Zik Maulana/AP 

 

Bangladeshi naval officers beat Rohingya refugees, including children, with sticks and tree branches after they protested against their detention on the desolate island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal, Human Rights Watch has alleged.

According to reports received by the human rights organisation, the refugees were punished for going on hunger strike last month to demand reunification with their families in the sprawling refugee camps near the Bangladeshi coastal town of Cox’s Bazar. The authorities have denied the accusations.

Bangladesh: Protesting Rohingya Refugees Beaten

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

October 1, 2020

Authorities Prepare to Relocate Thousands to Dangerous Island

A man walks past buildings on Bhasan Char, or floating island, in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh on December 19, 2019. © 2019 AP Photo/Saleh Noman

(New York) – Bangladesh authorities beat refugees protesting their detention on Bhasan Char Island with sticks and tree branches, Human Rights Watch said today. Naval officers allegedly beat the refugees, including children, in retribution for their hunger strike beginning on September 21, 2020 to demand reunification with their families in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps.

OIC Committee on Accountability for Human Rights Violations against Rohingya Meets in Riyadh

International Quran News Agency
September 30, 2020

TEHRAN (IQNA) – The OIC Ad Hoc Ministerial Committee on Accountability for Human Rights Violations against the Rohingya held a consultative meeting at the level of Permanent Representatives in Riyadh on 30 September 2020.

 During the meeting, the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef A. Al-Othaimeen, reviewed the practical positive steps taken by the OIC to sensitize the international community of the plight of the Rohingya and the OIC’s strong commitment to the principles of justice and accountability for human rights violations committed against the Rohingya, particularly within the framework of the legal case filed with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar.

UK for keeping Rohingya issue alive on UNSC agenda

NEWAGE

Diplomatic Correspondent 

Oct 01,2020 

The United Kingdom on Wednesday stressed the need for keeping the Rohingya issues alive on the international platforms including the UN Security Council for mounting pressure on Myanmar for ensuring repatriation of the members of the community to Rakhine.

‘Myanmar must remain on the agenda’ of the UNSC and likeminded countries would require to work together on the matter, British high commissioner Robert Chatterton Dickson said in a talk held on a web platform with Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Dhaka asks UN to do more to solve Rohingya crisis

Dhaka Tribune

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan

September 30th, 2020

Newly-appointed Permanent Representative to UN, Geneva Mustafizur Rahman presents his letter of credentialsto Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the UN, Geneva on Sept 28, 2020 Courtesy

Newly-appointed Permanent Representative to UN, Geneva, Mustafizur Rahman presents his letter of credentials

Dhaka has urged the United Nations to play a more proactive role to find an acceptable solution at the earliest to the protracted Rohingya crisis that has been affecting Bangladesh in a bad manner for a long time.

Bangladesh’s newly-appointed Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Mustafizur Rahman made the call while presenting his letter of credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the UN, Geneva, on Monday.

‘Safe zones’ plan shows Bangladesh is accepting Rohingya reality

ARAB NEWS

DR. AZEEM IBRAHIM
September 29, 2020

Rohingya refugees stretch their hands to receive aid at Balukhali makeshift refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Sept. 14, 2017. (Reuters)

 

The government of Bangladesh this week called on the international community to establish “safe zones” within Myanmar to allow for the Rohingya to safely return to the country of their birth. This is not likely to happen, but it does signal a welcome evolution on the part of the government of Bangladesh on the Rohingya situation.

Will Facebook Sit On The Evidence Of The Genocide Against The Rohingyas?

Forbes

Ewelina U. Ochab
Policy
Contributor

On June 8, 2020, The Gambia filed an application for discovery with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The application asks the Court to compel Facebook to provide information related to the personal Facebook accounts of Myanmar officials. The information that The Gambia seeks is to be used in an action brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands.

 

Roshida, 22, poses for a photo on December 1, 2017, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. She fled to ... [+]

Getty Images

UN meeting that began with unity concludes with divisions

StarTribune
EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
September 30, 2020

UNITED NATIONS — This year's U.N. General Assembly meeting began with calls for multilateralism and cooperation — a declaration that the urgency for countries to unite "has rarely been greater." It concluded with a parade of divisive grievances that echoed when the final gavel fell.

Leader after leader in days of speeches delivered virtually stressed the importance of working together to navigate the coronavirus outbreak and the challenges that lie beyond it. As Germany's foreign minister put it, COVID-19 "shows that international cooperation is neither an ideology nor an end in itself. On the contrary, it delivers results, far beyond the actual pandemic."

Bangladesh Deploys Troops on Myanmar’s Border

The Irrawaddy
By Htet Naing Zaw
28 September 2020

Bangladeshi soldiers on Myanmar’s border. / India Express

Naypyitaw — The Bangladeshi military has deployed troops in Cox’s Bazar District in southeastern Bangladesh along Myanmar’s border, according to Myanmar’s security sources.

The sources, who did not want to be named, reported seeing Division 10 along the border increasing in size since Sept. 25 with 155mm rocket launchers, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and anti-aircraft machine guns.

Myanmar’s military spokesman, Major General Zaw Min Tun, said Myanmar’s armed forces were taking action to maintain border security without affecting bilateral military relations.

MYANMAR: ROHINGYA DROWNING IN BLAME FOR SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19

ASIA MEDIA

September 26, 2020

SARA ALTUWAIJRI WRITES — Myanmar is facing a second wave of COVID-19, new cases are skyrocketing and, with general elections coming November 8, officials are accusing Rohingya of spreading the second wave of COVID. Why the blame? So that those aiming for election or re-election can gain people’s support. As elections get closer, politicians are spreading hate against the Rohingya. As stated by Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin, “Politicians in Myanmar are always trying to take advantage of the situation we are in. Although there were no Rohingya victims in the second COVID-19 wave, some politicians began propagating against us.” She adds that despite the fact that the first two new cases of coronavirus involved Rakhine Buddhists, Muslim Rohingya are blamed for the second wave and accused of bringing the virus from Bangladesh.

Dhaka to remind world of Rohingya failure at UNGA

FINANCIAL EXPRESS
September 26, 2020

Bangladesh will bring the unresolved Rohingya crisis before the global leaders today (Saturday) apparently reminding everybody of the failure to find a durable solution to the crisis amid Myanmar's non-fulfilment of repatriation pledge, officials said, reports UNB.

Bangladesh will also seek genuine efforts from the global community to help Rohingyas return to their place of origin in Myanmar's Rakhine State, they said.

PM Hasina to address UN General Assembly on Saturday

Dhaka Tribune
26 September, 2020

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina virtually addresses the high-level roundtable event held on the sidelines of the 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 

Focus Bangla

For the first time in the UN’s history, global leaders are joining virtually the annual high-level session

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually address the 75th Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Saturday.

“The prime minister is scheduled to deliver her pre-recorded country statement at the UNGA general debate in the UN Headquarters approximately at 10 am New York time (Bangladesh time 8 pm) tomorrow,” PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told BSS today.

Rohingya Genocide: ICC considers holding hearings in Bangladesh

theindepedent

26 September, 2020
UNB, Dhaka

Rohingya refugees want the hearings to be held away from ICC headquarters in The Hague. Photo: UNB/Wikicommons 

 

The Registry of the International Criminal Court has filed its observations on a joint request by the victims to hold the hearings in the Rohingya genocide case within reasonable proximity of the affected populations, instead of The Hague.  

In its filing submitted on September 21, which is available on the ICC’s website, the Registry outlines five possible scenarios whereby all or some part of the hearings may be held in Bangladesh, and details the pros and cons of each.

The importance of land rights to Rohingya repatriation

Farhaan Uddin Ahmed
25 September 2020

The Pinheiro Principles and justice for the displaced

Given widespread confiscation of Rohingya land, it is essential that Myanmar instate changes in property rights to encourage the voluntary return of its displaced Rohingya Muslim community, Farhaan Uddin Ahmed writes.

In August 2017, Myanmar’s military – the Tatmadaw – and other actors backed by it initiated a brutal violent campaign of ethnically cleansing the Rakhine state of Myanmar’s Rohingya community. The atrocities forced more than 800,000 Rohingya people to flee Myanmar, leaving behind their homes and livelihoods and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Riyadh’s pressure on Dhaka unfair

The Daily Star
Porimol Palma
September 25, 2020

Analysts, activists say about insistence that 54,000 Rohingyas in KSA be issued Bangladeshi passports; Momen says no passport without proof

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen. File photo

The Saudi Arabian pressure on Bangladesh to issue passports to 54,000 Rohingyas and bring back 462 others is unacceptable and unfair, analysts and Rohingya activists have said.

They said if the kingdom was really to send back the Rohingyas, they should mount pressure on Myanmar. They questioned as to why Bangladesh, which had taken in over a million Rohingyas, should take the 54,000 more.

Bangladesh, Saudi FMs to discuss bilateral issues Sunday

Dhaka Tribune
September 26th, 2020

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud UNB

The telephone conversation is scheduled to begin at 5pm, an official told UNB on Saturday.

The Saudi government on Wednesday positively responded to workers’ issues ending barriers to their return to the workplaces in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The first batch of over 300 passengers left Dhaka on flight SV-802 of Saudi Airlines early Saturday.

Donors reiterate support for Rohingya

FINANCIAL EXPRESS
September 25, 2020  
                                  
                          Envoys of US, EU, UK, Canada visit Cox's Bazar

File Photo used for representational purpose 

Representatives of the international community in Bangladesh conducted a two-day visit to Cox's Bazar and visited the Rohingya refugee camps. They reiterated their commitment to support Rohingya refugees in a joint statement on Thursday

The representatives include the ambassadors of the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), the British High Commissioner, the Head of Humanitarian Aid of the Canadian High Commission, the World Bank (WB) Country Director, and the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator.

PH is willing to accept refugees, Duterte tells UN General Assembly

INQIRER.NET

Darryl John Esguerra
Reporter / @DJEsguerraINQ
INQUIRER.net
September 23, 2020

MANILA, Philippines — In his first-ever speech before the United Nations General Assembly, President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated on Wednesday the Philippines’ willingness to accept refugees, including the Rohingyas from Myanmar.

 
Duterte cited the Philippines’ history of opening its doors to the refugees — White Russians following the 1917 Revolution, European Jews during the Second World War, Vietnamese during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, and Iranians displaced by the 1979 revolution.

UN council members urge halt to Myanmar-Arakan Army fighting

THE Star
Sunday, 13 Sep 2020

Ethnic Chin people hold placards during a protest asking for an end to conflict in Chin state and Rakhin State in Yangon on July 13, 2019. Around 1,000 Chin people have been displaced as fighting continues between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) in the area between Chin State and Rakhine State. - AFP 

UNITED NATIONS/YANGON, Sept 13 (AP): A majority of UN Security Council members called for an immediate halt to fighting between Myanmar government forces and the Arakan Army guerrilla force following a closed council meeting on the latest situation in the South-East Asian nation.