Myanmar will be made accountable over ‘serious’ Rohingya matter: Canada high commissioner

Canadian High Commissioner in Dhaka Benoit Préfontaine has said Myanmar will be held to account, even if it takes time, for what it did to the Rohingya people in 2017 to prevent a recurrence.

“I personally think it's important we do not forget what happened in 2017,” he said, referring to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in 2017 in which over 700,000 Rohingyas fled the Rakhine State and took shelter in Bangladesh.

“If we do (forget), it will happen somewhere else. If Myanmar can create a precedent of doing this and everything goes back to normal for them, we are doing a disservice to the whole international community,” he said.

“This is a serious matter. We are not going to try to forget it,” Préfontaine added, admitting that “it's a tough cookie to bake. It will take time probably”.

The high commissioner took questions during his interaction with the diplomatic correspondents in Dhaka on Thursday under the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh’s (DCAB) flagship ‘DCAB Talk’.

DCAB President Raheed Ejaz and General Secretary Nurul Islam Hasib also spoke at the event.

Canada has been active internationally since the beginning of the latest crisis.

High Commissioner Préfontaine said they had taken a two-prong approach to help resolve the crisis – one is to mitigate the negative impacts on Rohignya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar and the other is international engagement.

“We are very active,” he said, highlighting Canada’s engagement with the multilateral organisations such as OIC, ASEAN, G7, and Commonwealth.

He said the solution will not happen quickly. “This will require a lot of diplomacy. But what I can tell you this diplomacy is happening not just with Bangladesh, many other countries trying to find solutions. Right now we have a stalemate with the UN security council."

He said it will take time to hold Myanmar to account. “But wheels are turning”.

The envoy also spoke on a whole range of bilateral relations with Bangladesh from trade to press freedom and said they are keen to expand the trade ties.

Préfontaine, however, said infrastructure and governance remain issues of concern for Canadian businessmen.