In early March, Myanmar’s military junta took diplomats from Bangladesh, India, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to Maungdaw and Sittwe in Rakhine state, on the country’s western coast, to show apparent preparations to begin repatriation of the Rohingya. The diplomats were told that the Myanmar authorities want to start piloting the repatriation process soon, but without any clear date given. One may recall that in November 2017, months after a military crackdown on the Rohingya drove vast numbers of them out of Rakhine, Myanmar’s civilian government of the time, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, signed a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh for repatriating what it called “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals”. Bangladesh was then grappling with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who had poured in across the border from Rakhine; their number in Bangladesh now is more than one million. China mediated that bilateral deal to help Myanmar, an ally, temp...

The Gambia’s case against Myanmar under the international Genocide Convention, for the alleged genocide committed against the ethnic Rohingyas, is now all set to be heard and judged by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) following its rejection of Myanmar’s preliminary objections on the grounds of courts jurisdiction and the Gambia’s legal standing. Besides rejecting Myanmar’s objections, the ICJ also ruled that the Gambia’s application filed on November 11, 2019 was admissible, thereby allowing the case to proceed on the merits. The Rohingya victims of genocide, as well as all peace-loving people who believe in rule of law, can be certain now that we are one step closer to justice.  The ICJ decision, really is  a huge step towards an overdue reckoning with the Myanmar military’s atrocities against the Rohingyas. It is well-known that the international justice system is a long-drawn complex process, which may take years to conclude. But at least the world court’s decision...

The anti-government protests currently sweeping through South and Southeast Asia appear to have gained extraordinary strength and resilience. Among the three ongoing mass protests in this region, the largest and most powerful is the farmers' agitation in India, which has already passed ten weeks. These farmers are demanding the repeal of the government's new farm laws which aim to promote free market policies. In Thailand, anti-government protests that began a year ago resumed after a long pause due to the global pandemic. And the latest protest to attract global attention is in Myanmar where its powerful military, which seized power on February 1, faces a huge popular resistance, the kind of which has not been seen in many decades. These protests have some distinctive elements. While netizens are using hashtags and memes on the cyberspace, on the street we have witnessed Tractor March, three-finger salute, banging of pots and pans and usage of symbolic colours, etc. In India, ...

The European Union, barely three weeks before the general election in Myanmar, has held a bilateral dialogue on human rights with the regime seeking re-election. Following the dialogue a joint statement issued on October 14 by the EU and Myanmar noted that the EU reaffirmed its strong support for Myanmar’s democratic transition, notably in the context of Myanmar’s upcoming general election, as well as for its peace and reconciliation process and inclusive socio-economic development.  In the 393-word statement, however, not once did the term Rohingya appear, which describes   the distinct identity of the ethnic minority group that has been the subject of a prolonged persecution in Myanmar since the enactment of the Citizenship law in 1982 that stripped of their nationality. It is quite shocking as it ignores the fact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this year in its interim order affirmed Rohingyas as a distinctive ethnic group of Myanmar and ordered tha...

মিয়ানমারে রেহিঙ্গা গণহত্যা ও জাতিগত নিপীড়ণ-নির্যাতনের মুখে বাংলাদেশে আশ্রয় নেওয়ার তিনবছর পূর্তির সময়ে রোহিঙ্গাদের বাসভূমিতে একটি নিরাপদ অঞ্চল প্রতিষ্ঠার আহ্বান আমরা আবারও নতুন করে শুনতে পেলাম। গত ২৫ আগস্ট একটি আর্ন্তজাতিক ই-আলোচনায় আমাদের পররাষ্ট্রসচিব মাসুদ বিন মোমেন রোহিঙ্গা প্রত্যাবাসন সফল করতে আন্তর্জাতিক ব্যবস্থাপনায় বেসামরিক তদারকিতে রাখাইনে একটি নিরাপদ অঞ্চল প্রতিষ্ঠার প্রস্তাব দিয়েছেন। এ জন্য তিনি আন্তর্জাতিক সম্প্রদায়কে মিয়ানমারের ওপর চাপ দেওয়ার আহ্বান জানিয়েছেন। স্মরণ করা যেতে পারে ২০১৭ সালের সেপ্টেম্বরে জাতিসংঘ সাধারণ পরিষদের বার্ষিক অধিবেশনেই প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা প্রথমবারের মত মিয়ানমারের রাখাইন রাজ্যে এধরণের একটি নিরাপত্তা অঞ্চল প্রতিষ্ঠার আহ্বান জানিয়েছিলেন। স্বাভাবিকভাবেই প্রশ্ন জাগে যে গত তিনবছরে আমাদের পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয় এই নিরাপদ অঞ্চল প্রতিষ্ঠার প্রস্তাবটি নিয়ে ঠিক কী কী কাজ করেছেন ? জাতিসংঘ সাধারণ পরিষদে আহ্বান জানানো ছাড়া বিষয়টি নিয়ে তেমন কোনো কাজ আ্দৌ কি হয়েছে ? নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সিদ্ধান্ত ছাড়া এধরণের কোনো পদক্ষেপ কখনোই বাস্তবায়িত হবে না, সেটা মোটামুটিভাবে...

On the 23 rd of January when the President of The International Court of Justice (ICJ), AbdulQwai Ahmed Yusuf at the onset of his deliberations clearly pronounced that “the court’s references in this Order to the Rohingya should be understood as references to the group that self-identifies as the Rohingya group”, some of us in the Press Room got elated. And, then again while establishing the link between provisional measures and the rights whose protection was sought he said: “In the Court’s view, the Rohingya in Myanmar appear to constitute a protected group within the meaning of article II of the Genocide Convention.” Those survivors of the atrocities who were present inside the chamber and in the gallery later described their feelings as electrifying. Yasmin Ullah of Rohingya Rights Network told a press meet later that ‘it was feeling of what was like to be human and equal to others’.   The court order that brought joy among the persecuted Rohingya community and humanists ...

The latest resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly condemning rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minority groups in Myanmar was the third such resolution on the subject. It was approved by 134 votes in favour and nine against while 28 nations abstained. A vote so close to the hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over a petition seeking interim measures to prevent further killings and abuses with genocidal intent demands closer scrutiny to understand global community’s attitude towards the Rohingya crisis. China and Russia’s opposition to any international condemnation of Myanmar was not unexpected as both of them in the past had supported so-called security operations against alleged insurgency. Had these two veto-wielding nations allowed the UN Security Council to find a way forward to resolve the crisis or at the least refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC), victims of those atrocities carried out by Myanmar security ...