Rohingya repatriation: Frail role of UN, UNSC, and our aspirations

 

What are the United Nations (hereafter UN) and the United Nations Security Council (hereafter UNSC) used for? For refugees like Rohingya? For a country like Syria or Yemen? For a region like Tigray or Nagorno Karabakh or Rakhine State? Meeting those answers or looking for some conclusions of these questions will probably fleece your face with dark exhausts and long sighs. Slowly you may get to give up on and become a misanthrope about these highly aspired global bodies. Stateless Rohingya people, being lawlessly dispelled from their motherland, being persecuted, tortured, and killed, are living in Bangladesh. I am responsive and worried about the issue, as the civil societies of the world should be. Previously, I did write about promoting a dedicated hashtag for them as- #rohingyalivesmatter, complying, and linking with the “Black Lives Matter” movement in America.

According to the UN Charter signed in back in its birth, it should have come to save these people from persecution and other violence when their rights happened to be violated. And, so was the obligation of UNSC. But in reality, neither the UN, nor did the UNSC come to extend their hands to those stranded people, except issuing some paper-based declarations, condemn-notes, and, condolences. Almost all such cases of ethnic cleansing or persecution around the globe, have experienced and are experiencing similar frustrating muteness from these two bodies.

Historically, the UN did flop to make differences at large in major global ruins like the Cold War, Vietnam War, etc., and in the longstanding unsettled battles of either in Palestine or Kashmir or so. Certainly, the world would not like the UN to play the role of “supplying bandages” in the post-war ravaged cities only. Nations of the world did always expect something louder to be done by these bodies to stop and mitigate crises like war, famine, epidemics, etc. as it stands with the name “United Nations” which cuttingly means “Togetherness of the World”.

Noam Chomsky, the renowned American linguistics professor, pointed out that “United Nations lack of independence from the globe’s major powers” and also he did criticize the USA’s role to control the UN as “U.S. policy dominating U.N. policy” (Mukherji, 2001). George W. Bush, the American president known for his war-hawk regime, implored the UN to permit him to start a war with Iraq, uttering and justifying his sake to start a war as- "America has laid out the facts for the world to see", accusing that Saddam Hossain has lethal biological weapons (Greene, 2003). Later, he did start the war partially ignoring the UN’s direction or without a discrete decision. So, parties that contributed to engineering such forums, parties that shouts in the name of humanism and Human Rights in such forums, breach its codes for their gains, pains, or revenge very often.

Preferably, it is not now unclear to us about the political economy behind founding the genetic structure of a plethora of global bodies (i.e. WB, IMF), and with the passage of a better extent of time, that also gave us a true understanding of the prophesies that the global leaders and global bodies do deliver, we yet expect the UN and UNSC to be little different for these type of destitute. Especially, in the incomparable cases where peoples’ life going to be unsafe for some ruthless cruelty and self-seeking behavior of some lunatic leaders or states. And, UN and UNSC should also need to fathom that while a killing happens, reading out some gospels to stop the killer is not just enough and they aren’t meant to do that only. Managing and supplying food-aids or some blankets for the people caged in refugee camps are insufficient and against the signed Charter of the UN. It is clearly written in the UN charter that the UNSC “has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security” and “all Member States (of UN) are obligated to comply with Council decisions” (UNSC, 2020). So, UNSC has a strong role to play. An unjustified “veto” in there may kill thousands to millions.

Repatriation of the persecuted Rohingya people has become more a dubious curiosity than the thoughts of being actual reality, as leaders of Myanmar are still busy plotting conspiracy theories against such efforts. Major regional powers like India and China are quiet and busy with their own stake. Suu kyi lead newly elected coalition is going to hold the power of Myanmar for a fresh term with a gigantic majority in the parliament. Our foreign minister has expressed his optimism about a fresh talk in “tripartite mechanism” (reported in The Daily Asian Age in November, 2020), but we cannot be much optimistic as we see, China and India, countries of regional supremacies are not standing alongside us, Bangladesh and the Rohingya. Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China are the three parties of this tripartite. Suu Kyi still doesn’t appear to have grown any “peace” in her heart for the persecuted Rohingya folks, rather concentrated on firming her political power at home, although she yet holds a Nobel Peace Prize Trophy in her show-case with plenty of other international prizes and certifications.

To me, the question that gawps in my mind constantly is that “why the country would take any initiative to bring back those people that it did expel few days past?” If they did have that much compassion for humanity, they wouldn’t have been engaged in such barbarous ethnic cleansing. So, they will certainly try to linger the process and bring forth bureaucratic impediments and are never actually willing to take them back. Although the General assembly of the UN tried to come to such solutions at least twice, where major players, China and India, either voted against that resolution or abstained from voting for multifarious diplomatic interests. This makes the path to repatriation further hazy and questionable.

Exerting higher and tighter diplomatic pressure on Myanmar by international communities, bodies, and especially by the superpowers, is the single option left for Bangladesh. Bangladesh has to continue and intensify its pressure on Myanmar keeping close diplomatic ties with the world communities. It should also start preparations to communicate with the upcoming Biden Administration of USA, as they seem to be more committed to peace and human rights. The economic war between China and the USA may also bring a beneficiary point for us in this diplomacy. As Myanmar and China have some similar geopolitical interests in this region, and both of them have close economic ties, China is likely to be always in Myanmar’s favor. Again our urges to the UN and UNSC are that they should undertake some strict pressure on Myanmar so that the country confesses that Rohingya are their people and agrees to repatriate them. USA, UK, France, countries formed of migrated multi-colored people from diverse ethnicity and, members of UNSC, should play their role stricter, assigned by the UN Charter.

References:
Greene, D. L. (2003, February 14). THE BALTIMORE SUN. Retrieved from https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-02-14-0302140349-story.html
Mukherji, S. (2001, April 20). The Tech, MIT. Retrieved from http://tech.mit.edu/ V121/N19/19chomsky.19n.html
UNSC. (2020, December 07). UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/

The writer is a Lecturer of Public Administration at the University of Barishal and a Social Researcher. Use “@sirajissadik” to reach him in social media.