Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today urged Qatar to mount pressure on Myanmar for starting Rohingya repatriation and sought its proactive role in engaging the OIC countries to raise more funds for them.
“Qatar can use its good offices to put pressure on Myanmar for starting repatriation of Rohingya people without any further delay,” he said while addressing a high-level roundtable titled “Social and Environment Challenges Around Forcibly Displaced Populations-The Case of the Rohingya” on second day of his Qatar tour.
The meeting was held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Doha this morning.
In his speech, Prof Yunus said given the renewed international geopolitical and geostrategic scenario, Qatar can strongly express their solidarity to resolve the issue and be proactive to engage the OIC countries to raise more funds and impose pressure on the international community to advocate for the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
Recalling the role of Qatar in supporting Rohingyas, he said Qatar was among the first few countries to immediately provide assistance and support after the outbreak of Rohingyas crisis in 2017.
Qatar also took strong diplomatic positions on Rohingya issue in different international forums, he said, adding that the Emir of Qatar made some bold statements in this regard.
On September 19, 2017, in the opening session of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani called upon the Myanmar government and the international community to assume their legal and moral responsibility to take the necessary measures to stop the violence against Rohingya minority.
The Emir of Qatar also called for providing them with protection, repatriate the displaced to their homeland, prevent sectarian or ethnic discrimination against them, and ensuring that they have their full legitimate rights as full-fledged citizens.
In his address, Prof Yunus said Qatar Charity provides a wide range of humanitarian aid to Rohingya refugees in the camps of Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char in Bangladesh to more than 234,313 refugees.
The assistance from Qatar included medical supplies including emergency medical tests and essential medicines; essential school supplies including bags, uniforms, toys, and benches; cooking gas cylinders to reduce the environmental damage; 326 shelters in Cox’s Bazar etc. Qatar Charity (QC) launched an agricultural ‘Livelihood’ project in Bhasan Char in June 2023, he said.
Cox’s Bazar Life Desk/BSS
