Bangladesh rejects any notion of local integration of the Rohingyas and is committed to ensuring their repatriation to Myanmar, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said today.
“Bangladesh is fully convinced that Rohingyas must go back to Myanmar under conditions that they don’t return here again,” he said at a webinar on “Rohingya Crisis: Western, Asian, and Bilateral Perspectives”.
“We reject any notion of local integration,” he said.
The Center for Peace Studies (CPS) of South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), North South University, organised it in partnership with the High Commission of Canada as the Rohingya influx approaches third anniversary Tuesday.
Some 750,000 Rohingyas fled a brutal military campaign since August 25, 2017 and took shelter in Bangladesh, joining some 300,000 others who had fled earlier waves of violence since the 1980s.
Masud Bin Momen said now, considering the Covid-19 situation and conflicts in Rakhine, it seems Myanmar is making the Rohingya return difficult.
He also said Bangladesh is not allowing any third country resettlement of the Rohingyas on a basis where any country will take only a few members of the community.
However, he said, it can be considered if some countries work under a joint plan to settle some half a million Rohingyas to their countries.
The foreign secretary sought global cooperation in solving the Rohingya crisis that seems to be protracted.
