OIC urged to help with Rohingya crisis

Source Gulf Times,

Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni has urged the member-states of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to contribute to addressing of the root causes of the Rohingya problem.

She urged the OIC to help in the rehabilitation of the internally displaced Rohingya popupation and reconciliation between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in the North Rakhine State of Myanmar.

She was speaking at the first meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Rohingya Muslim Minority held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday on the sideline of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, a foreign ministry official in Dhaka said yesterday.
She said that Bangladesh has been extremely sensitive and supportive to Myanmar's Muslims from North Rakhine State.

In strict compliance with the principle of non-refoulement, Bangladesh has been hosting hundreds of thousand of Rohingya refugees on Bangladesh soil, in co-operation with UNHCR, the official quoted the foreign minister as saying.

The foreign minister said, it is important to address the issues of citizenship rights of the Rohingyas, and their continued trafficking and emigration. While citizenship rights is at the core of the problem, a large number of them have left the North Rakhine State for secured livelihood opportunities in Bangladesh, Asean countries and Gulf countries.

She emphasized that these two issues merit comprehensive solutions for the sake of peace and stability of the Rakhine State.

She also held a bilateral meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, on Wednesday at the United Nations Headquarters.
The two ministers reviewed bilateral relations and exchanged views on issues of common interests at the UN and other multilateral fora.