Bangladesh 'Outraged' by Myanmar's Falsehood, Fabrication of Facts at UNGA

In the ongoing UN General Assembly ( UNGA), Bangladesh is "outraged" to see another "blatant demonstration of falsehood and fabrication of facts" by Myanmar and to share the situation on the ground before the international community.

A senior official in Dhaka told UNB that "Bangladesh firmly opposes false allegations and falsification and misrepresentation of facts made by Myanmar in the UNGA," conveying exactly what Bangladesh responded to Myanmar's propaganda.

Through the UN, Bangladesh has urged the government of Myanmar to abandon its policy of lies and propaganda and to display genuine political will to take back its own nationals with safety, security and dignity, the official said.

At the UNGA, Myanmar reported that in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps, Bangladesh is harboring terrorists, but it denied such "baseless" allegations.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards extremism, funding terrorists and other drivers of extremism, another official said.

"We do not allow terrorists to use our territory. Myanmar needs to look at its own mirror," the official said , adding that during the general debate at the UNGA, this is what Bangladesh 's response to Myanmar is.

Not a bilateral issue

Bilateral cooperation is the only way to effectively address the repatriation problem between Bangladesh and Myanmar, Myanmar's Minister Kyaw Tint Swe said in his speech at the UNGA on Tuesday.

Bangladesh strongly disagreed with such a definition, reminding Myanmar that the Rohingya problem is not a bilateral one, but the internal problem of Myanmar.

Bangladesh has highlighted the track record of Myanmar's inhumane treatment of ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya, saying that Myanmar is nothing new.

Bangladesh said it was Myanmar 's policy of systematic isolation and repression of its own citizens that instigated an uprising and turned Myanmar into an organized crime breeding ground.

Bangladesh took the floor to respond to the "propaganda" of Myanmar and said a deadly conflict is going on in the Rakhine State, ignoring the UN call for a ceasefire, said the official, simply to enforce the "genocidal drive" of Myanmar against its own citizens.

Bangladesh provided temporary shelter to over 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.

More than three years have elapsed but regrettably, not a single Rohingya could be repatriated.

A small portion of the camps for Rohingya in Bangladesh

 "The problem was created by Myanmar and its solution must be found in Myanmar. I request the international community to play a more effective role for a solution to the crisis," said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her 75th UNGA speech.

Bangladesh stated during the general debate that the conditions in the Rakhine State were so poor that not a single Rohingya wanted to return voluntarily to Myanmar.

In order to observe the situation on the ground, Bangladesh called upon Myanmar to open up Rakhine to foreign organizations, the UN and the media.

Officials said the "unfounded allegations and undue charges" made by Myanmar against Bangladesh are part of their attempts to escape their Rohingya repatriation obligations.

In the general debate, Bangladesh made it clear that Myanmar had no intention of enforcing a repatriation agreement signed with Bangladesh.

What about 350 Rohingyas?

At the UN, the Myanmar side admitted that bilateral repatriation had not yet begun, but reported that more than 350 Rohingyas had returned to Myanmar's Rakhine State from camps in Cox's Bazar district.

Bangladesh raised concerns about such an argument by Myanmar and wanted to know where those returnees were.

"Who are those 350 people? Where are they now? Are they living in their homes in safety and security?" Bangladesh wanted to know from Myanmar if they returned to Myanmar at all.

Visible action sought

Bangladesh has sought genuine efforts from the Myanmar government and take back their nationals.

"Myanmar should take visible action not just seeking the attention of the international community," said an official.

Bangladesh has expressed to the UN that Myanmar must resolve the real causes, and it is not the duty of Bangladesh to continue to bear Myanmar's burden over and over again. In order to resolve the issue, Myanmar needs to have a sincere purpose and political will, "the official said."

During the general debate, Bangladesh told the UN that the Rohingyas do not want to return to Myanmar because they do not trust the government of Myanmar.

Two repatriation attempts were failed in November 2018 and August 2019.

Accountability

Bangladesh addressed the issue of transparency and at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) referred to recent developments.

Bangladesh also said the whole world was seeing the horrors and violence of the Rohingya security forces in Myanmar.

"We opened the border and saved lives. We acted in good faith," an official quoted a Bangladesh diplomat as saying in the general debate.

Myanmar said they share the concern and take them seriously over reports of human rights abuses in Rakhine.

In a public hearing at the ICJ in December 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counsellor of Myanmar, said that if war crimes or human rights abuses were committed, Myanmar's criminal justice system would investigate and prosecute them.

But there has been no serious efforts by Myanmar on that particular front, the Bangladesh side said.

Bangladesh said that in the midst of violence in the state of Rakhine, Rohingya are still coming to Bangladesh and Myanmar continues to misrepresent reality to justify its genocidal actions.

Diplomats stationed in Dhaka said that keeping accountable perpetrators of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people in Rakhine state will lead to giving the Rohingya the courage to return home.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed the repatriation deal on November 23, 2017.

On January 16, 2018, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a document on “Physical Arrangement”, which was supposed to facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland.