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Bangladesh vows to continue to support Muslim Rohingya refugees

Monday, 19 August 2024 11:07 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 19 August 2024 11:07 AM ]

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus salutes to the attendees upon arrival at the Bangabhaban to take oath as the head of the interim government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 8, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)

Bangladesh's new leader Muhammad Yunus has vowed to continue to support the Muslim Rohingya refugees living in his country.

“Our government will continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh,” Yunus said Sunday in his first major policy address.

“We need the sustained efforts of the international community for Rohingya humanitarian operations and their eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity, and full rights,” he added.

The Muslim-minority Rohingya community has been subjected to persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades. Nearly a million of them have fled their homes following a military-led genocide in 2017.

Close to a million Rohingya refugees are currently residing in overcrowded camps located in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, which shares a border with Myanmar, while many seeking asylum have scattered throughout neighboring countries like India.

The military leaders in Myanmar consider the Rohingya people as outsiders and have refused to grant them citizenship.

The 84-year-old Yunus, who took office after a student-led revolution toppled his predecessor prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also stressed that Dhaka will maintain support for the country’s vital garment trade, as suppliers shifted orders out of the country.

“We won’t tolerate any attempt to disrupt the global clothing supply chain, in which we are a key player,” Yunus said.

Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for about 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports.

Bangladesh's protests began in early July against a quota system that reserved over half of all government jobs for certain groups. The unrest later escalated into wider calls for Hasina's resignation.

More than 450 people died and thousands of people were arrested as security forces sought to quell the unrest.

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