Re-impose sanctions against Myanmar: Gowher Rizvi

Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi has called for re-imposition of sanctions against Myanmar as a way to put pressure on the Southeast Asian country that has been accused of genocide and driving out some seven lakh Rohingyas since August last year.

Gowher Rizvi said that sanctions against Myanmar's military regime were withdrawn following the emergence of democracy in the hope that the country will strengthen human rights and democracy.

Eventually, it resulted in foreign investments Myanmar, and its isolation from the rest of the world ended.

"When did the world get in this place, massive killing, genocide, ethnic cleansing happened. So, there is no longer a time to debate if sanction works or not," said Gowher Rizvi at the concluding of the two-day international conference yesterday.

BRAC University, Centre for Genocide Studies of Dhaka University and Actionaid, an NGO jointly organised the conference on "Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Towards Sustainable Solutions" at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Hall of Dhaka University.

The conference adopted a 16-point Dhaka Declaration, calling upon the international community to ensure voluntary, dignified and safe return of the Rohingya, who fled atrocities including killings, rapes and burning of houses, in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Addressing the concluding ceremony as chief guest, Gowher Rizvi said European Union's travel ban on Myanmar's military leaders has been a useful start.

Now it is need of the day to revisit the question of market access and investment in Myanmar so that the military there understand the pressure, he said. 

"Without pressure, nothing will happen. Myanmar won't be secure for the Rohingyas. If Myanmar is not secure, Rohingyas will not go back," Rizvi said.

If Bangladesh is to absorb the one million Rohingya, including the ones who fled earlier waves of violence in Myanmar, he feared for the future of the global system.