Staff Reporter:
United Nation (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated the UN’s continued com-mitment to a durable solution to the Rohingya crisis and assured Bangladesh of ensuring funding for the issue.
He made the commitment when High Representative of Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser on Rohingya Issue and Priority Matters Dr. Khalilur Rahman met him on Friday to discuss the upcoming UN International Conference on Rohingya Muslims and other Minorities of Myanmar, a press release said here yesterday.
The UN General Assembly decided to hold the Conference by consensus. The Secretary General recalled his visits to the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and Rakhine State and reiterated his con-cerns for the Rohingyas who remain victims of systematic discrimination and grave violations of their fundamental rights.
He lauded the continued generosity of Bangladesh in hosting nearly 1.2 million Rohingyas for eight years.
Guterres recognized Bangladesh’s indispensable role in providing support to the UN-led humanitar-ian assistance to Rakhine at this critical hour of need.
The High Representative highlighted the importance of urgent international actions for a sustaina-ble resolution of the Rohingya issue which continues to threaten regional peace and security.
He requested the Secretary General to mobilize the international community with a view to ensur-ing that the Conference, to be held this year, adopts concrete measures for an early and sustainable resolution of the issue.
Rahman also highlighted the serious humanitarian conditions in the Rakhine State and warned that the impending famine conditions will cause further destabilization of the conflict ravaged state.
He drew the attention of the UN Secretary General to deteriorating external funding situation and urged him to use his good offices to mobilize sufficient resources.
He also requested Guterres to ensure that aid providers and recipients have unimpeded access and are free from violence, intimidation, discrimination and displacement and that air strikes and bombings are brought to an end.
Dr. Rahman also apprised the Secretary General of Bangladesh’s reforms efforts under the leader-ship of Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus and underlined the need for a stronger role of Bangladesh in the UN peacekeeping activities.
In reply, the SG recalled his recent meeting with the Chief Adviser at Davos and reiterated firm support to the reform efforts.
He also assured the High Representative of his personal attention to higher level representations of Bangladesh in the UN peacekeeping machinery.
Rahman also held separate bilateral meetings with UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner and UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury was present in the meeting.
