THE move that the World Bank has made seeking Bangladesh to engage in efforts to create provisions for the Rohingyas, now sheltered in Bangladesh, for their purchase, lease and use of housing, land and property the way it is there for Bangladeshis, without restrictions on location, type or duration or at least benefits from the most favourable treatment accorded to a foreign country in the same circumstances is odious. Bangladesh officials say that the move, if implemented, will create scopes for the Rohingyas to get permanence in Bangladesh by creating a way for their local integration, noting that the World Bank initiatives also include provisions to prepare local communities to receive more displaced foreign nationals, which is likely to be a pull factor in encouraging more Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh from the restive Myanmar, where some 600,000 Rohingyas are left to leave after they have in phases since August 2017 fled violence by Myanmar’s security forces to Bangladesh to add to some 350,000 already having lived here, taking the total to some 1.1 million. The World Bank’s seeking Bangladesh to seek funds from at least two tracks of the World Bank’s mechanisms for supporting refugees to this end also sounds ludicrous.
The World Bank in a 33-page document forwarded to the Bangladesh finance minister on June 30 seeking Bangladesh’s engagement in finalising the Refugee Policy Reform Framework, undertaken in cooperation with the UN refugee agency, describes the move as a ‘part of a broader international effort’ to encourage the adoption of government policies for the management of forced displacement situation guaranteeing refugees administrative, civil and legal status and rights. This suggest that the move entails the involvement of the international community, which has so far failed to boldly stand up against Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingyas, thought to be the world’s most persecuted community in recent times, and to effect the repatriation of the Rohingyas living in Bangladesh. Soon after the latest spate of Rohingya influx to Bangladesh had begun in 2017, the United Nations likened Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingyas to ‘a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.’ The foreign ministry has rightly rejected the World Bank move. The World Bank move also stands in conflict with Bangladesh’s position on the Rohingya issue as its prime target is to send back the Rohingyas to their native land of Rakhine State in Myanmar in a voluntary, dignified and sustainable way, which is good not only for the Rohingyas but also for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh may rather, as the foreign secretary says, provide the Rohingyas with education and skills training, as is appropriate, commensurate with the need of Myanmar so that that could maintain their livelihood after their repatriation. Bangladesh, which has welcomed the persecuted Rohingyas out of generosity, must not forget that the repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar is the only solution to their plight. Bangladesh authorities, without acting on the impractical move of the World Bank, must redefine its strategy in the light of what has so far happened centring on the issue, including the World Bank move at hand, put in more mettle and redouble efforts for the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
