Rakhine Commission suggests restoring citizenship, upholding rights [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Rakhine Commission suggests restoring citizenship, upholding rights

Local February 01, 2017

Upholding basic human rights including restoration of citizenship, allowing people to live with dignity and reestablishment of rule of laws for all in Rakhine State are the key to removing the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
The observation was put forth by members of the visiting Rakhine Commission team after separate meetings in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Bangladesh side, in the meetings, stressed the need for political solution to the protracted Rohingya crisis with creating a congenial political, social and economic atmosphere for all to expedite repatriation of Myanmar nationals living here for years.
‘We do believe that the establishment of rule of law, and the fact that all communities living in the Rakhine state be respected in [maintaining] their basic rights and dignity…this [is] the key to have better situation there,’ Ghassan Salamé, leader of the Rakhine Commission team, said after a consultation meeting with select civil society members in Dhaka.
Asked if there was religious dimension of the Rohingya crisis, he said, ‘I don’t rule out the fact that there is a religious dimension in the conflict there, but this is not a war of religion’.
He said the commission felt the necessity to hear the voices of those who fled the Rakhine state in various ways creating layers of refugees in Bangladesh in 1991, early 2000, and who crossed the border since the tragic events of October, 2016.
The Rohingya crisis was also caused by the deprivation of people of their right to rule of law, freedom of movement and documents necessary to proof their citizenships, he said.
The three-member team comprising Salamé, a Lebanon-origin university professor, Win Mra, a retired Myanmar diplomat, and Aye Lwin, a Myanmar Muslim teacher, also visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.
An estimated 66,000 Rohingyas have fled indiscriminate killing, rape, arson and violence in Rakhine State and entered Bangladesh, as of January 12, since October 9, 2016, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
When asked about repatriation of Myanmar refugees and undocumented nationals from Bangladesh, Myanmar National Human Rights Commission chairman Win Mra said the two governments should resolve the problem through discussions.
Tens of thousands of ethnic minority Rohingyas also fled atrocities in Rakhine state to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India over the years, as the Myanmar authorities passed a exclusionary law in 1982 denying citizenship and fundamental rights to the minority Muslims living in Rakhine state for generations, making them stateless.
About 33,000 registered refugees of Myanmar and 3,00,000 undocumented Myanmar national have been staying in Bangladesh for years.
The delegation also held separate meetings with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali at their office.
The home minister told the delegation about the necessity of a political solution to the Rohingya crisis as the Myanmar nationals were creating social and environmental problems in Cox’s Bazar and other districts they were residing in.
Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies hosted the meeting with the participation of foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque, Dhaka University professor Syed Anwar Husain, Colombo-based Regional Centre for Strategic Studies Imtiaz Ahmed, Research Initiative Bangladesh executive director Meghna Guhathakurta, Tasneem Siddiqui and CR Abrar of RMMRU, Chittagong University professor Mohammad Shah, former ambassadors Ashfaqur Rahman, associate editor of Daily Observer Syed Badrul Ahsan, former Bangladesh ambassadors to Myanmar Anup Kumar Chakma and Chowdhury Khalequzzaman, and migration expert Asif Munier, among others, attended the consultation moderated by BIISS chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad.
Yangon-based Rakhine Commission was founded with Kofi Annan as its chair at the behest of the Myanmar state counsellor, Aung Sun Suu Kyi, in collaboration with the Geneva-based Kofi Annan Foundation, to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine state. The commission includes six Myanmar locals and three international experts.
Meanwhile, US ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat said on the day that their government would continue to put pressure on Myanmar as solution to Rohingya problems was in Myanmar’s hands.
‘Rohingya people have come to Bangladesh from Myanmar. Their roots are in Myanmar. So, the solution to their problems is in Myanmar,’ she said while talking to reporters after visiting an unregistered Rohingya camp at Leda of Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar.
The US envoy said they would continue to work in resolving the problems of Rohingyas who fled their homeland amid persecution.