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8179th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Myanmar
More than five months since the start of the violence that forced 688,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar into Bangladesh, a dangerous new crisis loomed, while restrictions on humanitarian access to the conflict areas posed a serious concern, the Security Council heard today, as it was briefed on the most recent developments in the region.
With the monsoon season set to begin in March, an estimated 107,000 refugees were living in areas in Bangladesh that were prone to flooding or landslides, warned Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, stressing: “We are now in a race against time as a major new emergency looms.”
Tens of thousands of particularly vulnerable refugees needed to be urgently relocated, the foundations of existing shelters needed to be strengthened, bridges needed to be built and reinforced, and new land must be found and made available, he underlined.
Although the influx of new refugees into Bangladesh was now significantly reduced, the conditions were not yet conducive to the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, he continued, emphasizing that preserving the right of return and pursuing the conditions that would enable it to be exercised must remain a central priority.
Education and skill development opportunities would be critical to avoid the deep despair that could set in when refugees were abandoned on the margins of society, he said, underscoring that failing to do so would lead to disillusionment and radicalization, while also exposing refugees to protection risks, including sexual and gender-based violence, trafficking and other forms of abuse.
In Myanmar, there was little sense of whether humanitarian needs were being met, said Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who noted that most humanitarian organizations that previously worked in Rakhine were currently not allowed to enter the area. Further, the United Nations did not have sufficient access to make a meaningful assessment of the humanitarian or human rights situation.
He stressed that humanitarian access to the affected areas of Rakhine should be immediately granted, while expressing concern that fighting in Kachin and northern Shan States had escalated in recent months, which had cast a shadow on peace negotiations and provoked serious human rights and humanitarian concerns. As in Rakhine, the Government had severely restricted humanitarian access in many of the most critical areas, which meant that the United Nations was unable to verify the number of people affected.
The Russian Federation’s representative stressed that, although the situation in Rakhine State continued to be complex, overall, it was under control thanks to the efforts of the Myanmar authorities to improve the socioeconomic situation of the state. He warned that using labels and attempting to use contradictory and subjective media reports only moved a solution further away.
The representative of the United Kingdom lamented that Rohingya refugees had suffered violence, including rape, murder and the burning of their villages. Further details emerged last week of atrocities committed by Myanmar security forces, and even now Rohingya fled starvation. What was happening was ethnic cleansing, he said.
The United States representative said powerful forces in the Myanmar Government had denied the ethnic cleaning in Rakhine State, but were denying access to anyone who might witness their atrocities. The Government should allow food for the starving, medical care for the wounded and psychological services for the sexually abused. The world was watching and waiting for Myanmar to act.
The representative of Myanmar said that his country was fully aware that it had the primary responsibility to protect its own people, noting that the Government and the Union Enterprise had been providing food and household needs to all communities in Rakhine, in addition to building infrastructure and business activities for economic development in the region. Concerning allegations of human rights violations, the Government would not condone any such abuses and if there was concrete evidence of such crimes, action would be taken.
He highlighted that his country and Bangladesh had made significant progress in their bilateral efforts for the repatriation of displaced persons, and according to the physical arrangement agreement for repatriation signed by the two sides in January, Myanmar would receive 300 returnees a day. That number would be increased based on the progress of the returns and reviewed in three months, while the number of transit caps and reception centres could be increased as the repatriation process progressed.
Bangladesh’s representative said that, despite claims otherwise, the influx of Rohingya into his country continued unabated, underlining that some 1,500 new arrivals had crossed in the first 10 days of February. Those arrivals cited persistent threats from security forces and armed vigilantes, acute food shortages, the destruction of and denial of access to local markets, the forced closure of businesses and alleged abductions of girls and young women, as well as sexual violence and enslavement as reasons for their continued exodus.
Also speaking today were the representatives of the France, China, Sweden, Peru, Ethiopia, Netherlands, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Poland, Kazakhstan, Bolivia and Kuwait.
The meeting began at 10:13 a.m. and ended at 12:43 p.m.
