{"id":122247,"date":"2022-01-19T17:19:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T00:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122247"},"modified":"2022-01-19T17:19:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T00:19:21","slug":"how-cambodia-as-asean-chair-can-play-a-key-role-in-rohingya-refugee-crisis-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/19\/how-cambodia-as-asean-chair-can-play-a-key-role-in-rohingya-refugee-crisis-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"How Cambodia AS ASEAN Chair Can Play A Key Role In Rohingya Refugee Crisis Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jubeda Chowdhury<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Rohingya issue is currently an\nimportant international issue. More than 1.1 million Rohingyas have taken\nrefuge in Bangladesh since August 2017 due to genocide and ethnic cleansing in\nMyanmar. About 50,000 newborn Rohingya children are added to it every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh Prime Minister raised the\nissue at the UNGA on September 25, 2021 to draw the attention of global leaders\nin solving the Rohingya crisis. She focused specifically on the engagement of\nASEAN leaders. It is ASEAN which can resolve Rohingya refugee problem easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen\ntoday said the Cambodian Chairmanship of Asean provides a great opportunity to\nfacilitate safe and dignified return of the Rohingyas, now sheltered in\nBangladesh, to Myanmar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to media reports, The\nforeign minister said this to Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn,\nalso the country\u2019s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation,\nduring a telephone conversation recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the conversation, Momen laid\nemphasis on the potential security risks to Bangladesh, Myanmar and to the\ngreater region if the Rohingya crisis is left festering for a much longer\nperiod of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He mentioned the vulnerability of\nthe displaced people to radicalism, extremism, terrorism, cross-border crimes,\netc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign Minister Momen congratulated\nhis Cambodian counterpart on Cambodia\u2019s assumption of Asean Chairmanship and on\nthe latter\u2019s appointment as the Special Envoy of the Asean Chair to Myanmar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Referring to the longstanding and\nexcellent bilateral relations between the two countries, Momen mentioned that\nBangladesh highly values its relations with Cambodia as an important partner in\nthe neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauding the big heart\u201d demonstrated\nby Bangladesh in sheltering 1.1 million displaced Myanmar nationals, Prak\nSokhonn expressed his full understanding of and sympathy for the difficulties\nbeing faced by Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Chair and an active member of\nASEAN, Cambodia can help to resolve it. Cambodia can be an honest mediator in\nthis regard. Cambodia has very warm relations with both Myanmar and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 28, 2021, Cambodia\nofficially took over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian\nNations (ASEAN) for the third time since joining the group in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cambodia holds the ASEAN chair for\nthe third time since it joined ASEAN on 30 April 1999. It was the last amongst\nthe 10 ASEAN countries to join ASEAN and has followed its regular turn in\nchairing the organisation every decade, in 2002 and 2012, respectively. There\nare only two countries\u2014Cambodia and Brunei\u2014whose leaders continued their tenure\nover the years in ASEAN, one being PM Hun Sen and the other one being the\nSultan of Brunei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, the Rohingya had been\nsubjected to systematic discrimination, deprivation of the right to vote, and\nregular targeting of violence in Myanmar for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohingyas have come to Myanmar to\nsave their lives after being subjected to extremely inhumane treatment by the\nmilitary; But their position in the country has become a cause for concern as\nthey are involved in migration, drug trafficking, child trafficking, smuggling,\nand other misdeeds as Bangladeshis. Again, some of the Rohingyas have been\naccused of being involved in militant activities and the Ramu attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to various sources, there\nare about four lakh Rohingyas inside Bangladesh and about one lakh outside the\ncountry, especially in the Middle East. Moreover, there are reports that\nunderage women and children in various camps in Cox’s Bazar are being tied to\nan important social bond such as marriage; Which is having a hugely detrimental\neffect on the society and the state system. Child marriage is a threat to the\nhealth of the mother as well as the health of the child. It has far-reaching\ndetrimental effects on women. Adolescent pregnancy can lead to a variety of\nhealth problems, including complications in childbirth. In some cases, they are\nalso victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and marital rape. In addition,\nincreasing population density is having a devastating effect on the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe last four and a half years, despite various initiatives, no real progress\nhas been made in resolving the Rohingya crisis. Under pressure from the\ninternational community, the Myanmar government signed an agreement on Rohingya\nrepatriation, but to no avail. According to the agreement, the Rohingyas were\nto be repatriated in stages. The repatriation process has not started for a\nlong time. The Myanmar government has failed to repatriate the displaced\nRohingya and resolve the crisis. Bangladesh has repeatedly urged various\ninternational forums to take effective steps to resolve the Rohingya crisis. At\nthe UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina not only ended her duty\nby calling on the international community to repatriate Rohingya but also\npresented six specific proposals. The Prime Minister also raised the issue\nduring his recent visit to France. In such a situation, the UN committee has\nunanimously passed a resolution urging Myanmar to end the Rohingya crisis. Most\nimportantly, Russia and China did not oppose the proposal. The resolution,\nintroduced by the OIC and the European Union, was unanimously passed by the\nSocial Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, known as the Third Committee of the\nUN General Assembly. Foreign Minister in response to the proposal. Abdul Momen\nconsiders the support of Russia and China important. He said China and Russia\nalso want a solution to the Rohingya problem. This is positive news for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthis regard, Cambodia can play a holistic, significant and strategic role.  Cambodia can support Bangladesh at every\ninternational forum such as at UNGA and regional conferences. They can vote in\nfavour of Bangladesh. They can raise the issue within the ASEAN platform. Cambodia\ncan negotiate with Myanmar diplomatically and bilaterally. It has good\nbilateral relations with Myanmar. Cambodia can engage with others ASEAN states\nto solve the crisis. Cambodia\u2019s Buddhist society can play an effective role in\nthis regard. Cambodia can make Myanmar understand on the regional significance\nof Rohingya repatriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier,\nCambodia hoped hat Bangladesh and Myanmar find a solution allowing the Rohingya\nrepatriation,  Prime Minister Hun Sen\nsaid at the joint press conference held following his bilateral meeting with\nvisiting Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nher part,  Sheikh Hasina affirmed the\nBangladesh\u2019s commitment to provide shelters to some 700,000 Rohingya refugees\nand to continue negotiating with Myanmar for their repatriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cambodia\nhas confirmed its clear stance over Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. On Nov. 16,\n2017, Cambodian Premier underlined that Rohingya crisis is an internal affair\nof Myanmar and Cambodia will not interfere in this issue. The Cambodian premier\nalso expressed his sadness over the crisis in Myanmar\u2019s Rakhine State, adding\nthat Cambodia is considering providing humanitarian assistance to Rakhine\u2019s\npeople, some of them are living in Myanmar while others fled to Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nPM Hun Sen visited Myanmar (6-8 January 2022). A new Special Envoy of the ASEAN\nchair, Prak Sokhonn the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Ministerof Cambodia,\nwas announced. He will be assisted by Cham Prasidh, Minister of Industry, a\nveteran of the Cambodian peace process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cambodia\nwas initially hesitant to speak out against the junta, citing ASEAN\u2019s principle\nof noninterference. But this time, as a chair of ASEAN , Cambodia wants to engage\nitself and Asean with Myanmar.  It is a\npositive side of Cambodia. Isolation is not a solution. Involvement, engagement,\nnegotiations are some tools to find solutions. Cambodia is doing so.  PM Hun Sen is very interested in ASEAN\u2019s\nrelations with Myanmar. Cambodia\u2019s role in this regard would be warmly\nwelcomed. As a chair, Cambodia can resolve a long disputed regional issue. If\nCambodia take a initiative to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis, it would be\na great achievement for ASEAN. Whole south Asia and Southeast Asia would see a\npermanent solution of a regional crisis. Of course, role of Cambodia as ASEAN\nChair would be seen positively. The prestigious of Cambodia as Asean chair would\nbe accepted amongst all South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jubeda Chowdhury The Rohingya issue is currently an important international issue. More than 1.1 million Rohingyas have taken refuge in Bangladesh since August 2017 due to genocide and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. About 50,000 newborn Rohingya children are added to it every year. Bangladesh Prime Minister raised the issue at the UNGA on September 25, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}