PM's call for lasting solutions for refugees
Rohingyas, a Muslim, Bangla-speaking ethnic group living in the Rakhine state are categorically denied citizenship rights, as well as subjected to violent repression at the hands of government forces, Buddhist extremists, and the region's majority ethnic group, the Arakan/Rakhine. While a deal was reached in June last year for Malaysia and Indonesia to provide temporary shelter to Rohingya asylum seekers, this temporary solution could not stop the refugee crisis engulfing Bangladesh. Consequently, the world saw thousands of desperate Rohingyas trying to flee persecution and poverty, adrift on rickety boats on the seas of Southeast Asia in search of a better life, many of them to Bangladesh.
In the wake of the Summit for Refugees and Migrants at the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York held on September 19, it is imperative that the international community starts thinking about lasting solutions to curb not only the Rohingya issue but the global refugee crisis that has forced 21 million people to leave their homelands due to conflict or persecution. Nine million people have been displaced by the conflict in Syria alone.
Powerful countries including the US should do more to bring about peace around the globe. While the refugee crisis unfolds on the seas, the real solution has to be found on land.
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