Growing violence in Rohingya camps can spread beyond borders, PM warns

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday urged the international community to give proper attention to the Rohingya issue as growing violence and crimes in the Rohingya camps can soon spread beyond borders.

“The security situation in the Cox’s Bazar camps is getting complicated. The growing violence and crimes can soon spread beyond our borders,” she said.

The prime minister made the statement in a video message played in the two-day13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit that concluded in Cambodia on Friday.

She also cautioned the world community saying that a provisional response to the crisis will serve little purpose.

“A critical test of our multilateral cooperation will be to find a lasting and peaceful solution for Myanmar’s forcibly displaced people – the Rohingyas,” she said.

In this connection she mentioned that Bangladesh offered temporary shelter to the Rohingyas and stabilized the situation.

“We continue to amplify the demand for their safe and dignified return to Myanmar. I urge the international community to give proper attention to the concerns we are raising,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said that the COVID-19 pandemic has put a heavy pressure on the health systems and economies across the world.

“It has compelled us to divert our development resources for emergency treatments and vaccines,” she said.

In this regard, she said that the government adopted a strategy to save both lives and livelihoods, and announced 28 stimulus packages worth USD 5.4 billion to offset the impacts of the pandemic.

“Our priority now is to preserve our hard-earned development gains in reducing poverty and hunger, saving mothers and children, promoting literacy and education, and ensuring safe and healthy living,” she said.

She said that the government aims to vaccinate 80 per cent of the target population by March 2022.

“We hope to sustain the momentum of our LDC graduation. We shall remain focused on attaining the SDGs by 2030. Our vision is to build an inclusive and prosperous nation by 2041. To achieve these goals, our partnership with Asia and Europe remains crucial,” she said.

She thanked the friendly countries in Asia, Europe and the US for their donations of vaccines.

“Bangladesh has the capacity to produce quality vaccines. We seek technical know-how and licenses for the purpose,” she added.

The PM put emphasis on joining hands of Asia and Europe for mobilising finances and technology to combat climate change.

“The advanced and industrialized economies need to raise their climate ambitions beyond COP26. I urge them not to shift responsibilities that may otherwise hamper our own economic growth take-off,” she said.

She invited all interested ASEM partners to invest in projects under Bangladesh’s long-term Bangladesh Delta Plan and Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan.

She said that Bangladesh aspires to become a regional connectivity hub, with potential benefits for its neighbours.

She said that Bangladesh also offers to be one of the bridges in the EU-Asia Connectivity Strategy and welcomes Europe’s engagements in sub-regional connectivity projects in railways and roads.

“Our shared growth pursuits need to be supported by sound international security cooperation. Regional platforms like ASEAN Regional Forum should help foster real-time cooperation in counter-trafficking, maritime and cyber security, and fighting terrorism.”

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh considers itself to be modelled after the best of Asian norms and European values.

“Since our early days, our commitment to multilateralism has remained a constant.”

In this connection, she said that Bangladesh is engaged in strategic dialogues with a number of our European partners and looking forward to becoming a Sectoral Dialogue Partner for ASEAN.

“Our present lead in IORA, D-8, BIMSTEC and other forums will be used for advancing our shared objectives.”

She wished to see ASEM emerge as a force for good in the international system.