Bangladesh’s Yunus Promises Support to Rohingya in First Policy Speech

08/20/2024

Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh, has delivered his first major government policy address in which he promised to support the Rohingya community seeking refuge in the country and maintain Bangladesh’s garment trade. 

Speaking in front of diplomats and UN representatives, Yunus pledged that his government “will continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh.” 

“We need the sustained efforts of the international community for Rohingya humanitarian operations and their eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity and full rights,” he said. 

Bangladesh is home to about one million Rohingya. Most of them fled neighboring Myanmar in 2017 after a military crackdown now the subject of a genocide investigation by a United Nations court. 

More Rohingya are reportedly expected to arrive in Bangladesh from Myanmar with war-related injuries amid escalating conflict between the military and the rebel Arakan Army in western Rakhine State. 

 

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