Bangladesh has praised the United Nations which recently passed a unanimous resolution on the situation of Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar, saying the move will have a "political" impact and "pressure" the Myanmar authority to take corrective measures. The resolution, jointly tabled by the members of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the European Union (EU), also acknowledged the contribution of Bangladesh, which has been hosting over a million Rohingya refugees on its soil. 

"It's a great day for us. We're very happy," Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momin said on Thursday, adding it was the first that a resolution was passed with consensus. It will have “political value”, he added. 

The resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly on Monday focussed on the human rights situation of the Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar and asked the latter to take measures for the safe and dignified return of the refugees. 

After the Myanmar military cracked down in 2017, over 700,000 Rohingyas, mostly Bengali speaking Muslims living in Rakhine province, fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, creating at the time what many called one of the biggest humanitarian crises. However, Bangladesh, despite its consistent efforts, received nothing but just lip service from the international community when it comes to the question of returning these people back to their homeland.  

"They (Rohingyas) must go back to their country for a better future. All countries want a peaceful solution to the Rohingya issue," Momin was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper on Thursday.

Speaking  on the issue, he said, "We're yet to see any resolution passed by the UNSC. We're hopeful that in the future we can see progress there, too."

Earlier in June, Bangladesh had abstained from a similar resolution on Myanmar where the issue of the return of these refugees was not added, which Momim termed fundamental to the crisis. The June resolution, which focussed on the return of democracy, did not touch upon the Rohingya refugee issue.

The Monday resolution called upon Myanmar to address the root causes of the Rohingya crisis, fulfill its obligations under the bilateral agreements with Bangladesh and cooperate fully with the special envoy of the secretary-general on Myanmar and all the human rights mechanisms of the UN, among others.

Momen said the countries which used to create barriers, like Russia and China, also wanted solutions to the Rohingya crisis. We had a discussion with Russia, he said, adding China had also taken some initiatives.

(SAM)