Nirmul Committee urges UN to resettle Rohingya refugees in another country

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir today called upon the United Nations to take steps for a third country relocation of the Rohingyas.

The UN Human Rights Commission has already arranged third country relocation for the Bhutanese refugees, he said.

He made the comments while addressing an international conference held virtually.

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, a pro-Liberation War platform, organised the conference titled "Miseries of Rohingyas and refugees of other countries across the globe: Crisis of humanity".

Presiding over the conference, Shahriar said they have collected about 10,000 testimonies of the Rohingyas which will be published in a journal.

"Gradually, we are going to publish all these testimonies in our journal," he said, adding the persecuted Myanmar nationals are the "victim of genocide".

Shahriar also alleged that China was the "root cause" behind the Rohingya crisis, adding that it should force Myanmar to take back the Rohingya refugees.

He said although the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to take the Rohingyas back to Myanmar, there has been little done on its implementation.

British human rights activist Julian Francis said historically, international communities have neglected the situation with the Rohingyas for decades.

He said the Muslims of the Rakhine State of Myanmar were forced out even in the late 18th century.

"So, the whole problem has been going on for a long time," he added.

On the legal aspect of the Rohingya crisis, Barrister Tureen Afroz, a former prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, said if Myanmar has committed "genocide" there should be some sort of justice, trial and accountability.

Justice Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Kazi Mukul of the committee, among others, addressed the virtual conference.

Representatives of different refugee communities and nationals of Syria, Palestine, and Rwanda, among others countries, took part in it.