Bangladesh has called on the international community and the regional countries to step up their efforts to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis.
Expressing serious concern at the growing sense of hopelessness in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh over the delay in repatriation, Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima has said that urgent action is the need of the hour.
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"Creating a conducive environment in the Rakhine State and ensuring accountability for the horrendous crimes committed against them are critical in this regard,” she said, while delivering her statement at the 3rd committee general debate held at the UN headquarters on Monday.
“While Bangladesh is doing its best to ensure humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas, including by ensuring vaccination of all the eligible Rohingyas, the ultimate solution to this protracted crisis lies in their safe, sustainable, and dignified return to Myanmar,” she said.
“We will work with the OIC and the European Union on the annual resolution in this Committee on the human rights situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar,” the diplomat added.
In her statement, Ambassador Fatima also outlined Bangladesh’s core priorities in the third committee this year.
"Apart from the resolution of Rohingya crisis, the key priorities of Bangladesh include ensuring vaccine equity, promoting women empowerment and addressing violence against women, ensuring rights of children including their right to education, protecting the rights and well-beings of migrant workers, and promotion and protection of human rights at the national and global levels."
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Shedding light on the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on vulnerable people, the Ambassador called for greater solidarity and cooperation to promote an inclusive and resilient recovery.
“The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities and exclusion both within and across our societies. And we believe that this Committee has a special responsibility to promote actions to protect the most vulnerable, and to help us chart a recovery that leaves no one behind,” she said.