UN special rapporteur on Myanmar visits Bangladesh to understand Rohingya situation

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, is visiting Bangladesh to understand the situation of Rohingya Muslims who were forced to flee their country and took shelter in Cox’s Bazar.

On her arrival, the foreign ministry said on Monday, she called on Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali who informed her about the latest influx of Rohingyas from the neighbouring Rakhine state.

Following the visit, the special rapporteur will present a new report to the UN Human Rights Council on Mar 13, which will be posted online.

The special rapporteur thanked the foreign minister for allowing her to undertake the visit to Bangladesh when Ali assured her of all sort of cooperation during her mission.

Yanghee Lee, a professor from South Korea, was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2014 as the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

She is independent of any government or organisation and serves in her individual capacity.

The three-day visit follows a UN report that Myanmar army committed mass killings, and gang rapes on Rohingya population in Rakhine state following an October attack on a police outpost.

“Having access to these affected communities would help give me a better understanding of their human rights situation in Myanmar,” Lee said in a statement posted on UN website before her arrival in Dhaka.

She welcomed the announcement that the military security operations in the north of Rakhine have ceased.

“However, we cannot forget the numerous allegations of grave human rights violations recorded by the team deployed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Cox’s Bazar last month,” she said, recalling the Feb 3 UN flash report based on the testimonies of over 200 individuals.

The foreign ministry said she would visit various locations in Cox’s Bazar and interact with the newly arrived Myanmar population.

The foreign minister apprised her of the steps that the Bangladesh government had taken for Myanmar refugees and the undocumented Myanmar nationals who entered Bangladesh over the years from the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

He informed her about the repatriation status of the refugees under an agreement negotiated by him when he was an official at the foreign ministry in 1992. He informed that 236,599 Rakhine Muslims had been repatriated under that agreement until it came to a halt in 2005.

He stressed that the constant presence of the huge number of Myanmar nationals in Cox’s Bazar district had created some adverse effects on the overall socio-economic, political, demographic, environmental, and humanitarian and security situation in the district and adjacent districts.

He also informed the UN special rapporteur about the initiatives of the government to engage with Myanmar bilaterally through the establishment of border liaison offices and introduction of dialogue on security cooperation.

Ali highlighted the endeavours to foster regional connectivity involving Myanmar through BCIM and BIMSTEC and thus ensure sustainable development in the region.

He emphasised the peaceful resolution of the longstanding issue of influx from Myanmar to Bangladesh and urged the international community to take measures for addressing the root causes of the problem.