Special Correspondent :
In an attempt to find a solution to the complicated issue of Rohingya Muslims, a three-member team of ‘Kofi Annan Commission’ will arrive in Bangladesh tomorrow [Sunday].
The delegation also known as Rakhine Commission team, comprising Win Mra, Aye Lwin and Ghassan Salamé, will go to Southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar same day to see the real picture of Rohingyas staying in different refugees camps.
Of the three members, Win Mra is head of the National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar, Aye Lwin is a Myanmar Muslim educator while Ghassan Salamé is a Lebanon-origin professor of international relations at Paris-based Sciences-Po.
The Rakhine Commission team will hold meetings with the high government officials.
On August 24 last year, the Myanmar government to oversee the problems in Rakhine state had formed a nine- member State Advisory Commission headed by Kofi Annan- the former UN Secretary General Annan [from 1997-2006],
who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations in 2001.
Apart from Kofi Annan and Ghassan Salamé, another international member of the commission is Laetitia van den Assum, a diplomat from the Netherlands and a former advisor to the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS. Besides, six other members are Myanmar nationals, with two Rakhine Buddhist members, two Muslim members, and two government representatives.
Diplomatic sources said that the Commission has been tasked with finding conflict-prevention measures, ensuring humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation, establishing basic infrastructure, and promoting long-term development plans in the restive state. Besides, the Commission has been given one- year time to conduct research and submit a report on its findings.
The formation of the commission was necessitated by a number of factors, but most importantly due to the protracted and lingering tensions between the Buddhists and Muslims [mostly Rohingyas] in the wake of the 2012 violence in Rakhine state that killed several hundred people, the sources added.
Meanwhile, the UN rights envoy Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, is likely to visit Bangladesh soon to see the condition of Rohingyas staying in the country.
Confirming the visit, the UN resident coordinator Robert Watkins of Yanghee Lee, said: “Yanghee Lee has already visited Myanmar. She will come here to see what is going on in Bangladesh. However, the schedule of the visit is yet to be finalised.”
According to government statement, over 3 lakh Rohingyas so far have been taken shelter in Bangladesh since 1970 after army-backed Myanmar government launched cleansing operation against Rohingyas. But concerned circle said the total number of registered and unregistered refugees would be more than 5 lakh.
The United Nations last month said over 65,000 Rohingyas have entered through different points of Cox’s Bazar in the recent months after the Myanmar army launched the crackdown in the Muslim dominated Rakhine State since October 9 last year.
The issue was also raised in OIC summit where State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam MP in a sideline meeting with Foreign Minister of Malaysia Dato Sri Anifah Aman exchanged views on the problem of Rakhine Muslims on January 19.
Shahriar Alam informed the Malaysian Minister on the recent influx of Rakhine Muslims into Bangladesh, residual refugees of past exodus and of 3,00,000 undocumented Myanmar nationals staying in Bangladesh. He opined that Rakhine Muslims’ problem is not an inter-religious conflict; rather it’s a serious human rights issue of persecuted stateless Muslim population of Rakhine State.
Both the Ministers agreed on the need for greater role of ASEAN, OIC and the UN to find a durable solution of the problem, according to the Foreign Ministry.
In an attempt to find a solution to the complicated issue of Rohingya Muslims, a three-member team of ‘Kofi Annan Commission’ will arrive in Bangladesh tomorrow [Sunday].
The delegation also known as Rakhine Commission team, comprising Win Mra, Aye Lwin and Ghassan Salamé, will go to Southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar same day to see the real picture of Rohingyas staying in different refugees camps.
Of the three members, Win Mra is head of the National Human Rights Commission of Myanmar, Aye Lwin is a Myanmar Muslim educator while Ghassan Salamé is a Lebanon-origin professor of international relations at Paris-based Sciences-Po.
The Rakhine Commission team will hold meetings with the high government officials.
On August 24 last year, the Myanmar government to oversee the problems in Rakhine state had formed a nine- member State Advisory Commission headed by Kofi Annan- the former UN Secretary General Annan [from 1997-2006],
who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations in 2001.
Apart from Kofi Annan and Ghassan Salamé, another international member of the commission is Laetitia van den Assum, a diplomat from the Netherlands and a former advisor to the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS. Besides, six other members are Myanmar nationals, with two Rakhine Buddhist members, two Muslim members, and two government representatives.
Diplomatic sources said that the Commission has been tasked with finding conflict-prevention measures, ensuring humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation, establishing basic infrastructure, and promoting long-term development plans in the restive state. Besides, the Commission has been given one- year time to conduct research and submit a report on its findings.
The formation of the commission was necessitated by a number of factors, but most importantly due to the protracted and lingering tensions between the Buddhists and Muslims [mostly Rohingyas] in the wake of the 2012 violence in Rakhine state that killed several hundred people, the sources added.
Meanwhile, the UN rights envoy Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, is likely to visit Bangladesh soon to see the condition of Rohingyas staying in the country.
Confirming the visit, the UN resident coordinator Robert Watkins of Yanghee Lee, said: “Yanghee Lee has already visited Myanmar. She will come here to see what is going on in Bangladesh. However, the schedule of the visit is yet to be finalised.”
According to government statement, over 3 lakh Rohingyas so far have been taken shelter in Bangladesh since 1970 after army-backed Myanmar government launched cleansing operation against Rohingyas. But concerned circle said the total number of registered and unregistered refugees would be more than 5 lakh.
The United Nations last month said over 65,000 Rohingyas have entered through different points of Cox’s Bazar in the recent months after the Myanmar army launched the crackdown in the Muslim dominated Rakhine State since October 9 last year.
The issue was also raised in OIC summit where State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam MP in a sideline meeting with Foreign Minister of Malaysia Dato Sri Anifah Aman exchanged views on the problem of Rakhine Muslims on January 19.
Shahriar Alam informed the Malaysian Minister on the recent influx of Rakhine Muslims into Bangladesh, residual refugees of past exodus and of 3,00,000 undocumented Myanmar nationals staying in Bangladesh. He opined that Rakhine Muslims’ problem is not an inter-religious conflict; rather it’s a serious human rights issue of persecuted stateless Muslim population of Rakhine State.
Both the Ministers agreed on the need for greater role of ASEAN, OIC and the UN to find a durable solution of the problem, according to the Foreign Ministry.
