UNSC fails to deliver
The UN Security Council meeting on the Rohingya issue has been all recommendations without any substantive action proposal to halt their continued persecution. We are deeply disappointed and disturbed that at a time when the entire world seems to be on common ground about the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas, China and Russia's position has prevented the Security Council to act decisively on the matter. And the longer the UN dithers, the longer Myanmar will carry on with its genocide of the ethnic minority.
The positions of the two countries which are very good friends of Bangladesh is troubling. Is it geopolitical interests dictating whether the UN will act to stop the decimation of an entire ethnic group? It is reminiscent of the double veto of the UNSC's first draft resolution on Myanmar eleven years earlier—in a decade the persecution of the Rohingyas has only increased and along with it the refugee population that Bangladesh hosts. If China and Russia had acted then, the present tragedy may not have happened.
We have seen how this lack of consensus in the UN has emboldened Myanmar, to the point that last week the authorities cancelled the planned visit of UN representatives to Rakhine State. If China and Russia are not convinced of the need for immediate action, delay in which could lead to severe crisis for the entire region, they could send their own investigative teams to verify the reports. Their act not only makes the mandate and goal of the UN futile, but is at the cost of lives that could have been saved. The world has a duty to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas, and we urge that China and Russia do their part. Truth and a moral duty demand a consensus on stringent actions to stop the atrocities against the Rohingyas.
Finally, we feel that the level of representation in a forum like the Security Council is extremely important to add weight to a country's statements on a particular issue. When Myanmar was represented by its national security advisor we should have been represented by someone of ministerial level too.
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