Bangladesh adds feather to cap as UN lauds Rohingya rehabilitation in Bay of Bengal island

THE ECONOMIC TIMES
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury
ET Bureau
Jun 04, 2021,

Bhashan Char is a much better place than the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, observed the UN delegation that visited the island recently

Bangladesh has added yet another feather to its cap with the UN lauding its efforts to address the woes of Rohingya refugees including in the Bhashan Char island in Bay of Bengal.

Bhashan Char is a much better place than the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, observed the UN delegation that visited the island recently. "The Bangladesh government has made an important investment in Bhashan Char…," said UN Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees (Protection) Rouf Mazou.

In a change of heart, UN hints at engagement with Rohingya at Bhasan Char

bdnews24.com
Staff Correspondent,
02 Jun 2021

Discussions are going on between the United Nations and the government of Bangladesh over the global body’s engagement in managing the Rohingya relocated to Bhasan Char island, an official of the UNHCR says.

Raouf Mazou and Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioners at the UN refugee agency, spoke to the media in Dhaka after a meeting with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday following their trips to Bhasan Char and refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

ကုလအရာရှိကြီး ၂ ဦး Bhasan Char ကျွန်းကိုသွားရောက် ပြီး ရိုဟင်ဂျာဒုက္ခသည်တွေနဲ့ တွေ့ဆုံ

VOA

ဗွီအိုအေ (မြန်မာပိုင်း)
01 ဇွန်၊ 2021

Bhasan Char စခန်းမှာ ဒုက္ခသည်တွေနဲ့ တွေ့ဆုံတဲ့UNHCR အရာရှိကြီး ၂ ဦး Photo: Muaazzem Hossain Shakil/VOA

ကုလမဂ္ဂ ဒုက္ခသည်များဆိုင်ရာ မဟာမင်းကြီးရုံး UNHCR က အကြီးတန်းအရာရှိကြီး ၂ ဦးဟာ တနင်္လာနေ့မှာ ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံရောက် ရိုဟင်ဂျာဒုက္ခသည် တချို့ကို ပြောင်းရွှေ့နေရာချထားပေးနေတဲ့ Bhasan Char ကျွန်းကို သွားရောက်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။

Beyond the Coup: Can the United Nations Escape Its History in Myanmar?

JUST SECURITY

Ambassador Kelley Currie
May 27, 2021

(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the Feb. 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar. The series brings together expert local and international voices on the coup and its broader context. The series is a collaboration between Just Security and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School).

When Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Moe Tun took the floor of the General Assembly on Feb. 26 to condemn the weeks-old military coup and announce his loyalty to the elected government, he not only shocked all those tuning in who expected a pro forma defense of the Tatmadaw’s power grab and denunciation of U.N. interference. He also provided Myanmar’s democratic movement a potentially powerful new tool, both to help secure their legitimacy, and to shift the historic dynamics of U.N. failure in Myanmar. To make the most of this tool, the nascent National Unity Government (NUG) must quickly learn how to work with the U.N. system and leverage it for its intrinsic utility as well as to build out their footprint internationally. To date, the results have been mixed, but there are signs that the NUG is learning. Whether these efforts ultimately will be effective also depends on whether the U.N. system can learn from its own failures in Myanmar and make the necessary course corrections at this pivotal moment.

ကုလအေထြေြညီလာခံဥကၠ႒ နဲ႔ ဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ Sheikh Hasina ရိုဟင္ဂ်ာဒုကၡသည္ အေရးေဆြးေႏြး

VOA
ဗြီအိုေအ (ျမန္မာပုိင္း)
26 ေမ၊ 2021

ကုလသမဂၢ အေထြေထြညီလာခံ ဥကၠဌ Volkan Bozkir နဲ႔ ဘဂၤလားေဒရွ္႕ ၀န္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ Sheikh Hasina ေတြ႔ဆံု (Volkan BOZKIR twitter)

ဘဂၤလားေဒရွ္႕ ႏုိင္ငံကို ေရာက္ေနတဲ႔ ကုလသမဂၢ အေထြေထြညီလာခံ ဥကၠဌ Volkan Bozkir နဲ႔ ဘဂၤလား ေဒရွ္႕ ၀န္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ Sheikh Hasina တို႔ အဂၤါေန႔မွာ ႐ိုဟင္ဂ်ာ ဒုကၡသည္ေတြ အေရး နဲ႔ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံတြင္း လက္ရွိ အေျခအေနေတြကို ေဆြးေႏြးခဲ႔ၾကပါတယ္။

Bangladesh seeks vaccines from UN, donors for Rohingya

AA

SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh
24.05.2021

Rising COVID-19 infections in squalid refugee camps force authorities to impose lockdown

Bangladesh has sought COVID-19 vaccines and other related support for Rohingya refugees in the country from the UN and other donor agencies, said an official on Monday.

Shah Rezwan Hayat, head of the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), told Anadolu Agency that they have requested the UN Refugee Agency and held meetings with the World Health Organization to initiate a vaccination campaign for the refugees in the southern district of Cox's Bazar.

Rohingya Crisis And OIC: Assessing The Role – Analysis

eurasiareview
Shaikh Abdur Rahman
May 20, 2021 

1. Introduction

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), after the United Nations (UN) is the second leading international governmental organization, with the membership of 57 states from four continents. [1] It represents the Islamic world and strives for protecting its interests. Bangladesh, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has conceded much of the socio-economic, political and security cost of providing asylum to approximately 1.2 million Rohingya refugees. The institution has so far played an important role in the Rohingya crisis through fundraising and legal support.

Myanmar coup: ‘No sign’ of end to brutal crackdown on all fronts

UN News

Peace and Security
11 May 2021

Unsplash/Gayatri Malhotra, Protestors calling for democracy in Myanmar.

One hundred days since the Myanmar military seized power, the "brutal" repression of protesters has continued, despite all international efforts to end the violence, the UN rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.

“The military authorities are showing no sign of letting up in their brutal crackdown on opponents in a bid to consolidate their hold on power”, spokesperson Rupert Colville told journalists at a media briefing.

Bhashan Char Relocation: Bangladesh’s Effort Appreciated by UN

moderndiplomacy
May 11, 2021
Shaikh Abdur Rahman

Bhashan Char. Image source: dhakatribune.com

Bhashan Char, situated in the district of Noakhali, is one of the 75 islands of Bangladesh. To ease the pressure on the digested camps in Cox’s Bazar and to maintain law and order, Bangladesh has relocated about 18,500 Rohingya refugees from the overcrowded camps to the island since December last year. The Rohingya relocation plan to Bhashan Char aligns with the Bangladesh government’s all-encompassing efforts towards repatriation. The initial plan was to relocate 100,000 of the more than a million refugees from the clogged camps to the island. From the onset of the relocation process, the UN and some other human rights organizations criticized the decision pointing to remoteness and sustainability. UNHCR showed their concern over the island’s susceptibility to seasonal storm and flood. They proposed for a “technical assessment” of the Bhashan Char facilities.

Over 200 NGOs urge UN to impose arms embargo on Myanmar

PRESS TV

Wednesday, 05 May 2021 

People take part in a demonstration against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar, April 30, 2021. (Photo by AFP)

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among over 200 non-governmental organizations, have urged the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the junta in Myanmar for its lethal crackdown on anti-coup protesters.

UN urges Dhaka to relocate Rohingya to island in ‘phased manner’

ARAB News

SHEHAB SUMON
April 17, 2021

Image shows a housing complex where Rohingya refugees are being relocated in the Bhashan Char island of Noakhali District. (File/AFP)

Report follows a three-day study of remote Bhasan Char by UN experts

DHAKA: The UN has followed up a review of a remote island facility set up by Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees by calling on Dhaka to carry out the relocation process in a “phased manner.”

The recommendation comes despite warnings by rights groups that the site is vulnerable to severe weather and flooding.

A UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson in Dhaka, Charlie Goodlake, told Arab News on Saturday that the UN team is recommending that any future relocations “are undertaken in a gradual and phased manner.”

UN fails to agree on Myanmar statement, diplomats blame China, Russia

FRANCE 24
01/05/2021

UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener had a long meeting with Myanmar junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting STR AFP/File

United Nations (United States) (AFP)

The UN Security Council failed to agree Friday on a joint statement on the crisis in Myanmar after a closed-door meeting, with diplomats blaming Beijing -- the junta's main backer -- and Russia for raising objections and putting forward their own competing text.

The session was convened by Vietnam to present the conclusions of a recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia. ASEAN is to appoint an envoy to help resolve the crisis sparked by the February 1 coup by the Myanmar military.

During the meeting, the UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, who is currently touring the region, gave a report on her long meeting with Myanmar junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing, held on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting.

UN calls for return to democracy in Myanmar, end to violence

AP

EDITH M. LEDERER

May 1'2021

Anti-coup protesters run after seeing police and soldiers arrive to disperse their demonstration in Y

angon, Myanmar, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Demonstrations have continued in many parts of the country since Saturday's meeting of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as have arrests and beatings by security forces despite an apparent agreement by junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to end the violence. (AP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Friday again demanded the restoration of democracy in Myanmar and the release of all detainees including Aung San Suu Kyi and strongly backed calls by Southeast Asian nations for an immediate cessation of violence and talks as a first step toward a solution following the Feb. 1 military coup.

The council’s press statement followed a briefing by the top U.N. envoy that the strong, united demand for democracy by the people of Myanmar who have been protesting since the coup has created “unexpected difficulties” for military leaders in consolidating power and risks bringing the administration of the nation to a standstill.

OP-ED: A wake-up call for Bangladesh?

Dhaka Tribune

Nisath Salsabil Rob
April 25th, 2021

In handling the Rohingya crisis, it is time Bangladesh prepared for the long haul

In the wee hours of February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military -- the Tatmadaw -- declared a one-year state of emergency and arrested democratically elected leaders of the ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), including Myanmar’s former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, thereby putting a nail on the coffin of Myanmar’s fledgling democracy.

Millions face hunger as Myanmar crisis worsens, United Nations says

Reuters

Poppy Mcpherson
April 22, 2021

Members of the armed forces stand guard during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

Food insecurity is rising sharply in Myanmar in the wake of the military coup and deepening financial crisis with millions more people expected to go hungry in coming months, the United Nations said on Thursday.

Up to 3.4 million more people will struggle to afford food in the next three to six months with urban areas worst affected as job losses mount in manufacturing, construction and services and food prices rise, a World Food Program (WFP) analysis shows.

UN Urges Bangladesh to Delay Rohingya Refugee Island Transfers

THE I DIPLOMAT
By Sebastian Strangio
April 20, 2021

The controversial island relocation plan points to the challenges facing the resolution of the refugee crisis in southeastern Bangladesh.

The United Nations refugee agency is urging Bangladesh to slow down its relocation of Rohingya refugees to an island in the Bay of Bengal until measures to protect residents from storms and flooding are fully in place, BenarNews reported on Friday.

Since December, the government has moved a total of 18,304 Rohingya from the crowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district, close to the border with Myanmar, to Bhasan Char, an island lying some 34 kilometers offshore.

According to the report, a team from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) visited the Bhasan Char in mid-March and acknowledged that the government had made “extensive investments” in infrastructure and safeguards on the flood-prone island, but said further improvements were necessary

UN Urges Bangladesh to Move Rohingya to Bay of Bengal Island Gradually

Radio Free Asia
2021-04-16

Rohingya walk by houses built for them by the Bangladesh government on Bhashan Char Island in Noakhali district, March 13, 2021.

The United Nations refugee agency is urging Bangladesh to slow down its relocation of Rohingya to a low-lying island because measures to protect residents from storms and flooding are not fully in place, UNHCR in Dhaka told BenarNews on Friday.

Meanwhile, the foreign minister said, international agencies must help foot the cost of housing what could eventually be 100,000 refugees on Bhashan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal. So far, Bangladesh’s government has covered that cost.

Rohingya relocation: UN positive about Bhasan Char

The Daily Star  

Star Digital Report
April 16, 2021

This file photo showing the aerial view of Bhasan Char shows a portion of the housing facilities that has been built on the island to relocate the Rohingyas from Cox’s Bazar. Photo: Star/File

The UN has expressed its positive attitude on the Bhasan Char project, which is meant to relocate 100,000 Rohingya from the camps in Cox's Bazar.

The UN delegation, which visited Bhasan Char on March 17-20, has already submitted a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently.

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.

"Overall, UN is positive about Bhasan Char," a diplomatic source told The Daily Star today.

UN: 'refer conflict-related sexual violence to ICC'

MEM

MIDDLE EAST MONITOR

Published in: Africa, ICC, International Organisations, Iraq, Libya, Middle East, News, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, UN, Yemen
April 16, 2021

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recommended the Security Council to refer cases of conflict-related sexual violence in a number of countries to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The countries in question include six members of the Arab League: Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.

Why Myanmar’s massacres shame the world

ZAWYA

SECURITY|
By Yossi Mekelberg, Arab News
03 APRIL, 2021

To a large extent we have arrived at this point due to the past failures of the international community to hold Myanmar’s military accountable for their crimes

Members of the armed forces stand guard during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon, Myanmar March 27, 2021.REUTERS/Stringer

When representatives of all UN member states met in 2005 for the World Summit, billed at the time as the “largest gathering of world leaders in history,” and passed a resolution that set out the parameters for the Responsibility to Protect populations (R2P) from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, there was an air of togetherness and optimism that the journey toward eradicating these horrific phenomena had begun.