THE International Conclave to bring focus on the issues of justice and accountability for the Rohingyas will be held in Hague. The Conclave is organised around discrete but interconnected aims, which include highlighting the various justice and accountability initiatives underway globally, as well as the need for multi-faceted approaches toward a sustainable solution, could be led to a final answer. It will also mobilize public and policy support for these initiatives. Lastly it will examine root causes and ongoing policy challenges in order to inform future advocacy strategies to ensure justice and accountability for the Rohingya.
These are well intentioned aims but the root cause of the Rohingya problem lies in the deep rooted belief of the Myanmar government and its people that they are not really Burmese nationals in the first place. To remove this deep seated racial and religious prejudice will require more resources than what the conference can achieve. Any attempt to tell the Myanmarese citizens that the Rohingyas are in fact nationals of Myanmar will be met with a sense of skepticism and disbelief. It will be seen as foreign interference in local history.
Other options like making the world powers all agree that the Myanmar government should take back the Rohingyas and act better towards them are equally likely to fall flat as Russia and China have shown their strong support for Myanmar whenever a Security Council Resolution takes place. As things stand, Bangladesh cannot get anything through the United Nations from China and Russia, two veto wielding nations at the UNSC, mainly due to the geopolitical and economical interests these countries have in regards to Myanmar.
In all the voting on Myanmar at the UN, China and Russia have always voted against any motions favoured by Bangladesh, while the country’s first neighbour India, has abstained, reflecting a grim scenario for Bangladesh. Myanmar is more important for China and Russia than Bangladesh is. The international community, including three other veto-wielding powers, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, are not interested at all in imposing any major economic sanctions or considering any military action against Myanmar, bypassing the UN system. So Bangladesh has to try to change the minds of China and Russia through diplomatic means.
