Hasina going to UN with Bangladesh's proposal to resolve Rohingya crisis

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is leaving Dhaka on Saturday for New York where she will present Bangladesh's proposals to resolve the Rohingya crisis by highlighting its root causes at the United Nations General Assembly.

The Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told bdnews24.com on Friday that Hasina and her entourage will fly for Abu Dhabi, their stoppage on way to the US, with Biman Bangladesh Airlines in the afternoon.

They will take an Etihad Airways plane from Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning and reach New York in the afternoon, he said.

Bangladesh's Ambassador in the US M Ziauddin and Permanent Representative to the UN Masud Bin Momen will welcome the prime minister at John F Kennedy International Airport, according to Karim.

The 72nd General Assembly started at the UN Headquarters in New York on Sept 12. Representatives of 193 nations will take part in the general debate from Sept 19 to 21. Hasina is scheduled to address the assembly on Sept 21.

This is the first General Assembly of the UN after Antonio Guterres took over as secretary general.

In a rare letter to the UN Security Council, he expressed concerns over the Rohingya crisis.

In a news conference last Wednesday, Secretary-General Guterres admitted that the military operation against Rohingyas was ethnic cleansing.

He also asked Myanmar to stop military action against Rohingyas that has pushed around 400,000 members of the ethnic minority to flee to Bangladesh.

UN agencies have called for aid as they fear the number may reach 1 million by year-end if the situation in Rakhine remains unchanged. 

Bangladesh had already sheltered another 400,000 Rohingya refugees in decades.

The Security Council has condemned the action by Myanmar authorities in a statement agreed on the country for the first time in nine years.

The European Parliament has threatened Myanmar with sanctions if it does not respond to global calls for stopping the persecution of Rohingyas.

India has also thrown its support behind Bangladesh over the issue.

China, however, says it is Myanmar's 'internal affair'.

The US has also condemned the operation against Rohingyas.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that Myanmar is facing a 'defining moment' and must stop the violence against the ethnic minority population.

Pressure is mounting on Myanmar government's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to condemn the army operation.

Twelve of her fellow Nobel peace laureates, among other eminent global citizens, called on her to act immediately to stop violence against Rohingyas.

Suu Kyi, however, is not attending the UNGA. A government spokesperson said "perhaps" she had "more pressing matters to deal with".

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told a news conference on Thursday that the UN was holding the General Assembly at a time when thousands of Rohingyas were crossing the border into Bangladesh daily.

He said Bangladesh was facing an unprecedented situation as the refugee crisis along the border with Myanmar worsened than any other time.

The minister said Bangladesh’s efforts to mount international pressure on Myanmar to ensure deportation of all the Rohingya refugees after stopping the ‘ethnic cleansing’ will also continue.

Ali said Hasina would also strongly push for immediate implementation of the recommendations by the Kofi Annan commission.

The Myanmar government formed the commission after it drew condemnation for an army operation against Rohingyas following attacks on security forces in October last year. The army crackdown pushed some 67,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

Hours after the commission submitted its report, Rohingya insurgents attacked 30 police posts and an army base on Aug 25 this year, triggering the latest wave of violence in Rakhine State.

Giving citizenship to the Rohingya Muslims and taking them back from Bangladesh after ‘joint verification’ are some of the key recommendations of the Kofi Annan commission.

PM's itinerary

After addressing the General Assembly on Sept 21, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will hold a bilateral meeting with UN chief Guterres.

Before her speech, she will attend High-level Meeting on UN Reform, to be hosted by US President Donald Trump, and another on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse on Sept 18.

She is also scheduled to take part in a follow-up meeting of Global Deal for Decent Work and Inclusive Growth the same day.

Along with the leaders of other countries, she will attend a luncheon to be hosted by the UN secretary general on Sept 19.

She will also join a panel discussion to be chaired by Guterres  and titled 'Women's Economic Empowerment for Leaving No-one Behind'. She will speak about the Rohingya issue at the OIC Contact Group meeting on that day.

The same day, in the evening, Hasina will join a reception for the heads of state and government of Commonwealth countries, to be hosted by UK Prime Minister Theresa May and current Commonwealth Chair-in-Office Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

She will also attend a reception to be organised by President Trump and another by expatriate Bangladeshis later that night.

On Sept 20, she will join the signing ceremony of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

She will also attend an event titled 'SDG Implementation, Financing and Monitoring: Sharing Innovations through South-South and Triangular Cooperation'. Bangladesh is organising the event in partnership with UNDP and UN Office on South South Cooperation.

Bangladesh and UNDP will co-organise the opening segment of another event titled 'Creating a Policy Vision for SDG Finance: Facilitating Private Sector Investment in the SDGs'.

After attending this event, she will join a luncheon roundtable to be organised by the Business Council for International Understanding.