BSS-59 Donors urged to acknowledge genocide against Rohingyas

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ZCZC

BSS-59

DONOR-CONFERENCE-ROHINGYA

Donors urged to acknowledge genocide against Rohingyas

DHAKA, Oct 21, 2020 (BSS) – The donors countries were urged to
acknowledge genocide against Rohingyas as the USA, the UK, the EU and
UNHCR with international community together is scheduled to hold a
virtual aid conference over displaced Rohingyas and Bangladesh host
community tomorrow.

“Genocide is the root cause of the humanitarian needs, and
governments should acknowledge that,” said Matthew Smith, Fortify
Rights Chief Executive Officer in a statement today.

This week, Fortify Rights joined Refugees International and 33
other organizations in a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo, calling on the US government to make a genocide determination
with regard to the crimes committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar.

“The generosity of the international community towards Rohingya
relief is crucial and commendable,” Smith said, adding, “Governments
must unite in condemning genocide and mass atrocities. Silence on the
nature of these crimes only benefits the perpetrators.”

The statement said the US government has never publicly determined
the Myanmar military committed genocide or crimes against humanity.

In 2016 and 2017, the Myanmar Army led a campaign of massacres,
mass rape, and mass arson, forcibly deporting more than 800,000
Rohingya men, women, and children to Bangladesh, said the statement.

Up to 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar and continue to face
genocide and other international crimes, it added.

The UN has appealed for more than $1 billion in aid to meet the
humanitarian needs of Rohingyas in Bangladesh this year, but so far
less than half has been contributed which leaves a significant funding
gap, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the virtual conference tomorrow, the donors will urge all to
increase assistance for the Rohingyas, the host communities, and the
internally displaced people in Myanmar.

State minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam is schedule to
participate at the conference from Bangladesh side.

The conference aims to raise urgently needed funds to help
vulnerable displaced Rohingyas living in and out of their native
Myanmar, said UNHCR in a press release.

It will be an opportunity for the co-hosts to reiterate that any
sustainable solution to this crisis must include the voluntary, safe,
dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya and other displaced
people to their homes or to a place of their choosing, said the
release.

In this respect, the co-hosts will repeat the UN Secretary
General’s call for a global ceasefire and the cessation of fighting to
enable safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all communities in
need of assistance.

BSS/TA/MRU/2131hrs