Salahuddin urges continued int’l support for Rohingyas

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Sunday called on the international community and UN agencies to maintain financial and logistical assistance at the highest possible level to ensure the safe, dignified and speedy repatriation of the Rohingyas.
He made the call when Nicolas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) under the UN Human Rights Council, met him at his office at the Bangladesh Secretariat, said a press release.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui and Additional Secretary of the home ministry’s Political and Immigration Wing Dr Ziauddin Ahmed, among other senior officials, were present at the meeting.
According to the home ministry press release, the meeting discussed the crimes against humanity committed in Myanmar, a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis, strengthening border security and ongoing judicial proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The home minister said the situation had become increasingly complicated for Bangladesh as global assistance from international organisations continued to decline, putting additional pressure on the country.
He said Bangladesh had provided shelter to hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds.
Koumjian expressed deep gratitude for the continued cooperation extended by the Bangladesh government.
He said IIMM teams had conducted field visits in Cox’s Bazar and other locations and interviewed more than 200 victims and witnesses. The evidence collected is being submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICJ and other international tribunals, he said.
Koumjian further said the IIMM was not limiting its investigations to the events of 2017. It was also documenting recent incidents of violence and human rights violations against civilians. 
At the meeting, the BGB director general briefed the IIMM chief on measures taken by the border force to prevent illegal crossings and provided an overall assessment of the border situation.