OIC to form ministerial body over Rohingya issue
The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation has decided to establish an OIC ministerial committee on accountability for crimes against the Rohingya.
The decision came after Gambia proposed for such a committee to mobilise and coordinate international political support for accountability for international crimes against the Rohingya.
"We are working with Gambia and any other countries can join us. We will come up with a proper formula for establishment of this kind of committee and this will be circulated by OIC secretariat later on," said Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, the current chair of OIC Council Foreign Ministers (CFM).The proposal was placed at a special session on "humanitarian challenges of the OIC countries, including those relating to the Rohingya" on the second day of OIC-CFM meeting this morning.
Gambian Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubacarr Tambadou in his proposal said the task of the ministerial committee would be to collaborate with other international actors, including the UN, International Criminal Court and NGOs to sustain international political pressure for accountability efforts.
It will also act as OIC focal point and assist in information gathering and evidence collection for accountability purposes, he told the session.
Some 700,000 Rohingyas fled a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine beginning of late August. They joined some 400,000 other Rohingyas, who fled earlier waves of persecution in Myanmar where they are denied citisenship and other basic rights.
Myanmar claims the crackdown was in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents, but the UN termed it ethnic cleansing with hallmarks of genocide.
Doctors without Borders said some 6,700 Rohingyas were killed in the first month of the offensive alone.
The UN Security Council has yet to take any concrete action against Myanmar.
Myanmar has not yet taken back any Rohingya though it signed a bilateral deal in November with Bangladesh that is bearing the brunt of one of the world's major refugee crises.
The UN says conditions in Myanmar are not conducive for safe return of the Rohingya.