News Desk :
The United Nations can help Myanmar defuse inter-communal tensions and create an environment for safe and dignified repatriation of Rohingya refugees, quoting the organization’s top political official, the UN News Centre reported.
“We hope Myanmar will draw upon the wealth of expertise the UN can offer,” Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the UN Security Council on Tuesday in his briefing on developments in Myanmar.
Tuesday’s meeting was a follow-up to the Security Council’s presidential statement on the situation in Myanmar adopted on November 6, which requested the UN Secretary-General to brief on development after 30 days of its adoption.
The estimated number of refugees who entered Bangladesh from Myanmar since 25 August now exceeds 700,000. “UN is grateful for the continued generosity of the Government and people of Bangladesh. We urge the international community to continue to support these efforts,” he said.
“But the origins and solutions to the Rohingya crisis rests in Myanmar. Repatriation and reconciliation policies will fail without accountability and non-discriminatory rule of law and public safety measures to address the fears and distrust among communities in Rakhine,” he also told the Security Council meeting on Myanmar situation.
To that end, one of the major developments Feltman highlighted was a bilateral agreement on the issue of return reached on 23 November between the two countries – [Bangladesh and Myanmar] a pact that recognizes the need for a comprehensive and durable solution through the safe, dignified, and voluntary return in accordance with international law.
Feltman said return must be supported through reconciliation efforts, and central to this is the implementation of the Rakhine Advisory Commission recommendations.
He noted that the United Nations General Assembly is expected to approve a resolution that requests the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy for Myanmar. This initiative can strengthen the partnership between the UN and Myanmar, in close consultations with interested Member States in the region and beyond.
“We urge all Myanmar leaders, including in the military, to condemn incitement to racial hatred and violence. We encourage them to adopt measures to defuse tensions between communities and create an environment for safe and dignified repatriation, including through interfaith initiatives,” he said.
Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten, who visited Bangladesh from 5 to 13 November, also briefed the Council. Describing “the most heartbreaking and horrific” accounts of sexual atrocities against girls and women in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, she said that every woman or girl she had spoken with during her visit to Rohingya encampments in Bangladesh had either endured brutal assault or had witnessed sexual violence, including seeing women literally being raped to death.
Such shocking accounts indicate a pattern of grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Sexual violence was being used as a “push factor” for forced displacement on a massive scale, with some survivors being told to leave because they were not citizens of Myanmar.
