Filippo Grandi
UN refugees agency chief Filippo Grandi on Saturday underscored that the root cause of instability in Rakhine state lied in the expropriation of citizenship of the Rakhine Muslims.
He said this in a meeting with foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali in Dhaka, according to a press release of the ministry.
Filippo Grandi also held a meeting with foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque.
Grandi, in his meeting with Haque, stressed the need that Bangladesh and Myanmar should work together for repatriation of Myanmar nationals staying in refugee and make-shift camps in Cox’s Bazar to their homes in Rakhine state, officials said.
He also offered UNHCR’s support in the repatriation process, they said.
Foreign minister Ali, in his meeting with the UN high commissioner on refugees, urged the UNHCR to call upon the Myanmar government to take meaningful measures to ensure return of all Myanmar nationals staying in Bangladesh.
Grandi is currently visiting Bangladesh and will have a mission to Cox’s Bazar on Monday to meet Myanmar refugees.
Ali apprised Grandi of the measures taken by the Bangladesh authorities to provide humanitarian assistances to Myanmar refugees and the undocumented nationals of the country.
He also informed the UN official that as many as 2,36,599 Rakhine Muslims had been repatriated till 2005.
He thanked the UNHCR for providing valuable support throughout the process of repatriation of this huge number of Myanmar nationals.
The minister, however, expressed concern over the unilateral halt of the repatriation process by the Myanmar authorities in 2005 even though 10,820 refugees had been cleared by both countries through verification process.
He stressed that constant presence of the huge number of Myanmar nationals in Cox’s Bazar created a number of adverse effects on the overall socio-economic, political, demographic, environmental, and humanitarian and security situation of Cox’s Bazar and adjacent districts.
The UN official commended the Bangladesh authorities for being benevolent to host a large number of Myanmar nationals for a long time as well as for providing humanitarian assistances to them.
This was Grandi’s first visit to Bangladesh. The visit was taking place when the Myanmar authorities were dillydallying to take back their nationals from Bangladesh.
At least 74,000 minority Muslims, out of 92,000, widely known as Rohingyas, who fled indiscriminate killings, rape, arson and violence by Myanmar security forces in Rakhine state, entered Bangladesh since October 9, 2016, according to UNHCR estimates.
Some three lakh Myanmar nationals have been living in a refugee-like-situation in makeshift shelters in Cox’s Bazar for years while 33,148 registered refugees from Myanmar have been living in camps for years in the bordering districts of Bangladesh.
He will call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina Sunday before leaving Dhaka Monday.
UN refugee agency chief on Friday urged the Myanmar government to grant citizenship to minority Muslims, widely known as Rohingyas, in Rakhine state of Myanmar, where sectarian violence displaced tens of thousands of them since 2012, according to Reuters.
UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi appealed to the authorities for inclusive and sustainable solutions to protracted displacement and statelessness of Muslim minorities in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
‘These are complex issues but they are not intractable,’ said Grandi, according to a UNHCR press release issued as he concluded first visit to Myanmar on Thursday.
Source: New Age
