US finally recognises Rohingya genocide

As the eighth partnership dialogue between Bangladesh and the US was coming to an end, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken termed Myanmar's crackdown against the Rohingyas as genocide during his visit to the US Holocaust Museum in Washington. We heartily welcome the US recognition—although belated—that the Myanmar Army had committed crimes against humanity by carrying out mass killings of the Rohingya Muslim population. And we hope this will give rise to the renewed US and global action towards finding a permanent solution to the crisis. The Rohingya people have suffered greatly for many years, and it is high time they were returned to their homeland with their dignity and human rights fully restored.

Meanwhile, during the dialogue, Bangladesh, while expressing concern at the early stages, has said that recent US sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) will not cloud the bilateral ties between the two countries. And discussions on trade and securities are expected to cement Bangladesh-US partnership further. During the talks, the US expressed its wish for Bangladesh to take a stronger stance against Russia's action in Ukraine. While we strongly condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the loss of lives in war and, in many ways, share the same concerns as the US, we do believe there are other factors that form a big part of this crisis. Even though the US has expressed some valid points when it comes to Ukraine, and we fully support the notion that no country has the right to violate the sovereign territory of another—which Russia has done in Ukraine—we know this is not the whole story.

It is a matter of fact that, in order to maintain global stability and peace, the concerns of other global actors should also be taken into account—not just the concerns of Western powers. Unfortunately, the fact of Nato expansion has totally ignored Russia's position and its security concerns. Given the seriousness of the crisis, as well as the grave threat to the entire world considering where this confrontation could lead to, the West should have given more weight to Russia's concerns over Nato expanding right to its borders. Therefore, we again call on all parties to the conflict, who have it within their capacity to bring an end to it, to hold immediate dialogues in an attempt to find an urgent political settlement before more lives are lost.

We hope the eighth Bangladesh-US partnership dialogue has strengthened the relations between the two countries and will facilitate greater trade and cooperation between them. Moreover, following the US recognition of the genocide against the Rohingyas in Myanmar, the global community should now step up and aid Bangladesh in finding a lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis.