Salahuddin calls on international communities to maintain support for Rohingyas

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Sunday called on the international communities and United Nations agencies to maintain financial and logistical assistance at their highest 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 Secretariat, said a press release.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui and Additional Secretary of the Political and Immigration Wing of the home ministry Dr Ziauddin Ahmed, among other senior officials, were present at the meeting.

According to a press release from the home ministry, the meeting discussed in detail the crimes against humanity committed in Myanmar, a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis, strengthening border security and the ongoing judicial proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The home minister said the situation has become increasingly complicated for Bangladesh as global assistance from international organisations continues to decline, creating additional pressure on the country.

He said Bangladesh had provided shelter to hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds.

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Nicolas Koumjian expressed his 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 International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other international tribunals, he said.

Koumjian further said the IIMM is not limiting its investigations to the events of 2017. It is also documenting, with importance, recent incidents of violence and human rights violations against the 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.

When the IIMM team expressed interest in holding discussions with field-level BGB commanders to collect information on the victims who had recently crossed the border, the home ministry and BGB expressed their positive consent.

The home minister expressed hope that the forthcoming judgment of the ICJ would increase global pressure on Myanmar and play an effective role in facilitating the repatriation of the displaced Rohingyas to their homeland.