Stressing that the Rohingya crisis is deteriorating very fast, Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene to end the crisis in Myanmar's Rakhine State.
"The human tragedy and crimes against humanity have taken a dangerous turn in the Arakan region of Myanmar. It needs your immediate intervention," he said in an open letter sent to the UNSC president and its members, according to a press release from Yunus Centre in Dhaka on Tuesday.
"I call on UNSC to intervene immediately by using all available means. I request you to take immediate action for cessation of indiscriminate military attack on innocent civilians that is forcing them to leave their home and flee country to turn into stateless people," his letter read, reports UNB.
According to different organisations, hundreds of Rohingya people were killed in the recent military offensive by the Myanmar Army in Rakhine with hundreds of thousands displaced, said Yunus.
“Complete villages have been burned, women raped, many civilians arbitrarily arrested, and children killed.”
According to local administration sources, around 120,000 people have fled to Bangladesh in the last 12 days, he said.
Yunus also noted that he along with several Nobel Laureates and eminent global citizens had denounced the previous spate of violence in Myanmar late last year and wrote to the UNSC to intervene.
"This time, I urge you to take decisive actions to stop the violence against innocent civilians and bring permanent peace in Rakhine."
He said, "I urge you to persuade Myanmar government to take immediate steps to implement the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission which the Myanmar government established in 2016 under the pressure of international community."
The Commission, mostly comprised of Myanmar citizens and chaired by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, recommended providing citizenship to the Rohingyas, allowing them freedom of movement, rights and equality before the law, ensuring communal representation, lack of which affects Muslims disproportionately, facilitating UN assistance in ensuring safety and security of returning people, said Yunus.
“Unless, constructive effort to build lasting peace is taken, the situation will get worse which in turn may pose serious security threat to the neighbouring countries.”
A bold change in approach was needed by the UN and the international community to put an end to the cycle of violence against the Rohingyas, he said.
The government of Myanmar needs to be told that international support and finance was conditional on a major change in policy towards the Rohingya, the Nobel laureate added.
"The world is waiting to see that the UNSC has played its role in bringing an end to a humanitarian crisis and building peace in the region," Yunus said in his letter.
As of now, around 1,23,000 people — mostly women and children — entered Bangladesh after the attacks on police and army bases in Rakhine on August 25 and the Myanmar military began crackdown.
Leave a Comment