Engaging honorary consuls in Rohingya repatriation

NEWAGE

M Serajul Islam
Article 
Published:  Jun 29,2019

A file photo shows Rohingya refugees queue for aid in Cox’s Bazar in September 2017. — New Age/Reuters  

A RECENT appeal of the foreign minister to honorary consuls at home and abroad ‘to engage their respective governments and civil societies to facilitate the repatriation of Rohingya refugees’ surprised many. The minister exposed his lack of knowledge about honorary consuls in making the appeal. The honorary consuls are not diplomats. They pursue their normal professions and provide services for the embassies of the countries that appoint them as facilitators on a voluntary basis. Their role is limited mainly to providing protocol assistance to the embassies and promote the interest of their countries in matters of trade, commerce, consular affairs, tourism, et cetera.

Rohingyas may be threat for security if not repatriated soon: PM

The Daily Star

June 26, 2019

 File photo of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today told parliament that the security and stability of Bangladesh may be hampered if the displaced Rohingyas cannot be repatriated soon.
In reply to a question from Awami League MP Nur Mohammad from Kishoreganj-2, the premier said, “If we can’t send the displaced Rohingyas back soon, there is an apprehension that our security and stability will be hampered.”

Rohingya Repatriation: Beijing’s support sought to convince Myanmar

The Daily Star

June 25, 2019

More than 740,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh, and virtually none have volunteered yet to go back to Myanmar. Photo: AFP/FILE

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today sought China's support to convince Myanmar to start taking back their nationals from Bangladesh at the earliest.

The Foreign Minister mentioned that Bangladesh is ready to send back Rohingyas who are in the verified list.

ASEAN to Support Myanmar in Rohingya Repatriation Process

The Irrawaddy
By Nan Lwin
24 June 2019

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi greets Thai officials after a bilateral meeting with the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on June 22, 2019. / ASEAN 2019 website  

YANGON—Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have reaffirmed their commitment to “a more visible and enhanced role” in supporting Myanmar in providing humanitarian assistance, facilitating the Rohingya repatriation process and promoting sustainable development in Rakhine State.

The ASEAN chairman’s statement issued on Sunday said ASEAN leaders stressed their continued support for “Myanmar’s commitment to ensure safety and security for all communities in Rakhine State as effectively as possible and facilitate the voluntary return of displaced persons in a safe, secure and dignified manner.”

Rights Groups Slam ASEAN's Positive Take on Rohingya Repatriation Plan

VOA

By Zsombor Peter

June 21, 2019 

   FILE - Rohingya sits on a beach at Rawi island in Satun province Southern of Thailand Tuesday, June 11, 2019. Thai officials say they have discovered 65 ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees who were shipwrecked and stranded in southern Thailand.

BANGKOK - A report by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Myanmar's readiness to repatriate Muslim Rohingya who fled to neighboring Bangladesh paints a mostly positive picture of the country's efforts.

Asean Leaders Pressured to Push Myanmar on Rohingya Repatriation

Bloomberg
By Philip Heijmans
20 June 2019,

 

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district. Photographer: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP via Getty Images

Southeast Asian leaders are facing pressure to take a tougher stance on Myanmar ahead of this weekend’s Asean summit amid accusations they’re failing to ensure the safe repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.

Rohingya repatriation: Bangladesh asks Myanmar to come up with ‘package’

Dhaka Tribune
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan
Published at June 16th, 2019

 Bangladesh is currently sheltering over 1.2 million Rohingyas in a number of refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

It’s Myanmar’s responsibility to create a conducive environment in Rakhine and to convince Rohingyas in Bangladesh to return to their homes, annoyed Dhaka tells unwilling Naypyitaw

An apparently annoyed Bangladesh has asked Myanmar to come up with a ‘package’ to ensure the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, who had to cross into Cox’s Bazar to escape persecution in Rakhine.

President seeks CICA support to repatriate Rohingyas

The Daily Star

June 15, 2019

BSS, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Leaders and officials including President Abdul Hamid pose for a group photo during the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Dushanbe in Tajikistan on June 15, 2019. Photo: Reuters

President M Abdul Hamid today solicited support and cooperation from Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) partners to repatriate the forcibly displaced Rohingya people to their ancestral homeland in Myanmar with safety and dignity.

Myanmar broke its promises

The Daily Star

June 13, 2019 

Staff Correspondent

Foreign minister says on Rohingya return

 

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen. Star file photo 

Myanmar has not kept its pledge of creating conditions conducive to Rohingya repatriation, and is spreading lies about Bangladesh, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said yesterday.

“In recent times, the media published reports of a Myanmar minister saying that Bangladesh was responsible for the delay in Rohingya repatriation; Bangladesh is not cooperating. Such a statement is blatantly false,” he told reporters after a meeting with foreign diplomats at state guest house Padma in the capital.

Bangladesh informs UN of Myanmar's non-cooperation on Rohingya repatriation

The Daily Star
June 13, 2019

                                          UN chief concerned over repatriation delay

 

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam shakes hands with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at a bilateral meeting on Rohingya issue and the celebration of birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in New York in USA on June 11, 2019. Photo: Courtesy

Bangladesh has shared the existing problems regarding the Rohingya issue with the UN and informed it about Myanmar's non-cooperation in starting the repatriation.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam conveyed these to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at a bilateral meeting on Rohingya issue and the celebration of birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in New York.

US-Bangla Dialogue Reemphasizes Voluntary, Sustainable Rohingya Repatriation

The Irrawaddy
By Muktadir Rashid  
13 June 2019

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque shakes hands with the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale on June 10, 2019. / US Embassy in Dhaka  

DHAKA—The United States and Bangladesh in their seventh U.S.-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue in Washington DC on June 10 reaffirmed their commitment to an enduring partnership and emphasized the need for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of 1.1 million Rohingya to their homeland of Myanmar.

Myanmar is ‘lying’ about Rohingya repatriation, says Foreign Minister Momen

bdnews24.com
Senior Correspondent bdnews24.com
Published: 12 Jun 2019

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has accused Myanmar of ‘lying’ about the issue of the repatriation of the forcefully displaced Rohingya people.

Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, Momen said, “Myanmar has held Bangladesh responsible for the delay in repatriating the Rohingya refugees when Bangladesh stands ready to do it.”

Bangladesh, Myanmar Trade Blame over Stalled Rohingya Repatriation

Benar News  

Special to BenarNews
2019-06-10

Young Rohingya ride a traditional wooden ferris wheel during Eid al-Fitr celebrations at a refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, June 5, 2019.  

 
Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh have traded blame over stalled efforts to repatriate about 740,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees, who fled a brutal 2017 Myanmar military campaign that drove them from their villages to camps on the Bangladeshi side of their border.

The latest row flared up after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told reporters in Dhaka that Myanmar was reluctant to take back the Rohingya Muslims despite a signed agreement to repatriate them.

Govt: Bangladesh trying to repatriate ‘terrorists’

MYANMAR TIMES

Htoo Thant   

11 Jun 2019

More than 160 people on the list of refugees whom Bangladesh wants Myanmar to repatriate have been involved in violence in Rakhine State, said U Soe Aung, deputy minister of Social Welfare, Relief & Resettlement.

“We have evidence that 16,898 people had lived in Myanmar, we found no evidence for 8,340 people, and 168 people were on the terrorist list,” he told the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) session on Thursday.  

Myanmar Doesn’t Want to Repatriate Rohingya, Bangladeshi PM Says

The Irrawaddy
By Muktadir Rashid  
10 June 2019

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks during an interview at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York on Sept. 25, 2018. / Reuters

DHAKA—Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Sunday that Myanmar does not want the more than 1 million Rohingya refugees currently sheltering in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district to be repatriated.

“Myanmar in no way wants them [Rohingya] back. This is the problem. We are trying to do our part,” the prime minister told a press conference at her official residence, Gonobhaban, in Dhaka when asked about possible solutions to the Rohingya crisis.

Voluntary organisations don’t want Rohingya repatriation: PM

Prothum Alo------ 

Staff Correspondent 

Dhaka | Update:  Jun 09, 2019

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said international volunteer organisations do not want Rohingyas to return to Myanmar.

“We took steps for their repatriation. However, a section of Rohingyas launched a movement against their return. Who instigated them? In fact international volunteers do not want the repatriation,” the prime minister told a press conference at her official residence Ganabhaban on Sunday.

Fighting between military and ARSA could not disrupt repatriation says army general

ELEVEN

Published 8 June 2019

Min Naing Soe 

Fighting between the Myanmar army and ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) could not hamper the ongoing repatriation process for those who fled Rakhine State, said Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, secretary of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

Rohingya Repatriation: America’s Last Chance

THE NATIONAL INTREST
May 30, 2019
by Nazmus Sakib

This is how the United States could gain leverage in a region where it is losing ground at an exponential rate.

The Rohingya refugees are probably going to be shifted to a newly “civilized” isolated Island in the middle of Bay of Bengal. However, China is reportedly offering Rohingya refugees $6,000 each to go back to Myanmar-Rakhine, the district from which they fled a “textbook case of ethnic cleansing.” On the other hand, China also helps Bangladesh government making the Rohingya Island habitable. The Burmese government, even Bangladesh government too, eventually might come onboard to send off the Rohingyas, without any promise of citizenship or permanent settlement, given the new rapprochement between Dhaka and Beijing, breaking away from its long-held “India first” policy. In the entire picture, however, the United States is missing in action. In fact, this might be the United States’ last opportunity to keep exerting its influence in the Bay of Bengal.

Rohingya repatriation: UNHCR, UNDP signs extension of MoU with Myanmar

The Daily Star

May 28, 2019

Star Online Report

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today signed extension of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Myanmar for one year aimed at creating conducive conditions for voluntary and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya from Bangladesh.

Rohingya Repatriation: Many twists and turns but no solution in sight yet

IPS
By Mohammad Zaman
21/05/2019

Amir Ali, a Rohingya violinist who was a member of a wedding band of the northern Rakhine State of Myanmar, attends a weekly prayer event to play the violin at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, March 7, 2019. PHOTO: REUTERS/MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN

May 21 2019 - There are over a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, including the latest batch of 800,000 that came after August 25, 2017 and the 250,000 that arrived since the first exodus of mid-1990s. As Myanmar nationals, the Rohingya Muslims have historically faced ethnic and religious persecutions, culminating in 2017 in a fierce, protracted genocidal campaign by the Myanmar army against its own people. The military launched a violent crackdown leading to arbitrary killings of Rohingyas, including children and the elderly, gang rapes of women, inhuman torture, and razing of village after village that forced all those people to seek shelter in Bangladesh, unleashing a humanitarian crisis unprecedented in recent history.