US to ‘significantly increase’ resettlement of Rohingya refugees, says Blinken

The United States is working to “significantly increase” resettlement of Rohingya refugees, including from Bangladesh, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

He made the announcement in a statement to mark five years of a Myanmar military operation that forced over 740,000 members of the ethnic minority to cross the border into Bangladesh.

The United States stands in solidarity with the Government of Bangladesh and other Rohingya-hosting governments in the region,” he said in the statement on Thursday.

“As an essential component of an international, comprehensive humanitarian response, we are working to significantly increase resettlement of Rohingya refugees from the region, including from Bangladesh, so that they can rebuild their lives in the United States.”

He said the US will also continue to support Rohingya and the people of Myanmar in their pursuit of freedom and inclusive democracy by advancing justice and accountability, increasing economic and diplomatic pressure, and safeguarding the human rights and human dignity of all individuals in Burma.

He noted Myanmar’s military launched a brutal campaign against Rohingya – razing villages, raping, torturing, and perpetrating large-scale violence that killed thousands of Rohingya men, women, and children five years ago.

Blinken said he spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in March 2022 and attested that the atrocities committed by the Burmese military against Rohingya amounted to crimes against humanity and constitute genocide.

Since the February 2021 military coup d’état, many of the same military forces continue to “repress, torture, and kill the people of Myanmar in a blatant attempt to extinguish Burma’s democratic future”, the US secretary of state said.

He condemned the regime’s recent executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders as “the latest example of the military’s abject disregard for the lives of the Burmese people”. “Its escalation of violence has exacerbated the worsening humanitarian situation, particularly for ethnic and religious minority communities, including Rohingya, who continue to remain among the most vulnerable and marginalized populations in the country.”

Blinken said the US continues to support the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, the case under the Genocide Convention that The Gambia has brought against Myanmar before the International Court of Justice, and credible courts around the world that have jurisdiction in cases involving Burmese military’s atrocity crimes.

“The United States also supports measures by the UN Security Council to promote justice and accountability for the military’s actions in line with its mandate to promote international peace and security. In this vein, the United States would support a UN Security Council referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court.”

The US is the leading single donor for the Rohingya with more than $1.7 billion to assist the victims. UN agencies have appealed for $881 million for this year, of which just under half has been received so far.

Bangladesh’s efforts to send back the Rohingya refugees to their homeland have failed so far as Myanmar has not ensured their safety, dignity and citizenship rights.

Blinken also said the refugees cannot safely return to their homeland under current conditions.

In Bangladesh’s refugee camps, thousands of Rohingya demonstrated on Thursday, demanding their safe repatriation to Myanmar and justice for the atrocities.