Three international conferences planned on Rohingya crisis: Yunus
PARBATTA NEWS DESK
Chiief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has said that three international conferences on the Rohingya crisis will be held this year to strengthen global efforts for a sustainable solution.
In an exclusive interview with Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama during his three-day official visit to Kuala Lumpur, Yunus said the first conference will take place in Cox’s Bazar at the end of this month to mark the eighth anniversary of the Rohingya exodus in 2017. A second high-level meeting is scheduled for September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, while a third is planned in Doha, Qatar, at the end of the year.
Yunus told Bernama that Malaysia, as current ASEAN chair, could play a pivotal role in advancing negotiations. “We are hoping that Malaysia will exercise its influence throughout the negotiation process to help us overcome this problem,” he said.
The Chief Adviser also cautioned, in remarks to Bernama, that the situation has worsened due to ongoing clashes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State between the Arakan Army and government forces, which have led to fresh refugee inflows into Bangladesh. He said around 150,000 Rohingyas had arrived in the last 18 months, adding to the existing 1.2 million already sheltering in Bangladesh.
Yunus further noted that the crisis has been exacerbated by the suspension of United States funding for Rohingya support programmes, leaving Bangladesh under severe strain in providing food, healthcare, education, and shelter.
Repatriation efforts have made little progress since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, he added.
