Bangladesh seeks support of nations in new UN initiatives

Bangladesh has once again requested the international community to extend their support to the new initiatives expected to be taken in various forums of the United Nations (UN) against Myanmar in the next one month.

The initiatives include convening a special session of the UN Human Rights Council and passing a special resolution at the UN Third Committee.

Foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque on Wednesday made this request to diplomats of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and BRICS countries stationed in Dhaka.

He was briefing at least 20 diplomats of OECD and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) about the latest condition of Rohingya crisis, the diplomats said.

Bangladesh has taken initiative to convene a special session of UNHRC on Rohingya crisis in Geneva in the next month, said foreign ministry officials.

Generally, UNHRC sessions take place in March, June and September but special sessions can be convened if any member state requests to discuss any specific topic. In that case, at least 16 countries out of 45-member council need to support the initiative.

A senior foreign ministry official said the special session against any country could take various decisions to take effective measures to fight the current condition of that country. The initiatives include issuing a resolution, joint statement, or the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) can decide to submit a special report at UNHQ.

Bangladeshi diplomats stationed in New York said that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), at the insistence of Bangladesh, is going to submit a proposal against Myanmar at the UN Third Committee. Bangladesh wants the proposal to be discussed in the impending meeting of Third Committee to be held in November.

Meanwhile, China, again, put emphasis on bilateral talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar to resolve the crisis.

China’s special envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang expressed this opinion during a discussion with foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque on Wednesday afternoon in Dhaka.

“The last time he [Sun Guoxiang] came to Bangladesh was around six months ago. The number of Rohingya people in Bangladesh then was about 400,000, now it is more than one million. This is a huge burden for us,” the foreign secretary told the reporters after the meeting.

“Prime minister has decided to let them [persecuted Rohingyas] stay on humanitarian grounds. But their stay cannot be prolonged,” he added.

“He [Sun Guoxiang] said Myanmar is more committed than before to take back Rohingyas. He also said he would convey Bangladesh’s stand to Myanmar leaders,” Shahidul Hque added.

The Bangladesh foreign secretary said, “China said both Bangladesh and Myanmar are their friends. They want to resolve the crisis in a peaceful way by working with two friends. They, however, put emphasis on bilateral talks to resolve the crisis.”

“I don’t think there was any question of China’s mediation [to resolve the Rohingya crisis],” he added while responding the question.

“China is concerned with the current situation as the situation is not good for this region as well as Asia,” the foreign secretary added.

Source: Prothom Alo