Staff Reporter
State Minister for For-eign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam yesterday called for actionable and predictable international support to resolve the Rohingya crisis, saying Bangladesh cannot sus-tain it indefinitely.
She made the call while addressing a National Policy Dissemination Program on “Uncertain Return: Rohingya Voices on Repatriation Barriers” at Dhaka University’s Senate Bhaban, said a foreign ministry press release.
The university’s De-partment of Criminology and Criminology Re-search Forum organized the program, with Shama attending as chief guest.
The state minister said the solution lies in My-anmar and urged the in-ternational community to move beyond statements of support to concrete assistance.
Referring to the depart-ment’s research, she said the Rohingyas were not rejecting Myanmar as their home. They were rejecting a return to the conditions that forced them to flee, she added.
She identified recogni-tion and identity, land and property, security, and trust backed by cred-ible guarantees as essen-tial pillars of a credible repatriation roadmap.
“Repatriation is an act of trust,” she said, adding that the Rohingyas were “asking for rights, not charity.”
Shama recalled Prime Minister Tarique Rah-man’s address at the 81st United Nations General Assembly and the five urgent priorities he placed before the interna-tional community.
These included a credible roadmap for sustainable repatriation, an end to violence, justice, ac-countability and stronger action against transna-tional crimes.
She also highlighted the formation of a National Strategy Formulation Committee to guide the Rohingyas’ safe and dig-nified return.
The state minister warned that rising crime and insecurity affecting host communities in Cox’s Bazar “cannot be allowed to become the new normal.”
Earlier, the research team presented its study, which surveyed 816 Rohingya respondents across 17 camp sites in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar.
The researchers also conducted 72 in-depth interviews with stake-holders involved in the repatriation process.
Shama later distributed prizes among winners of an essay competition organized by the De-partment of Criminolo-gy.
