Foreign-Affairs
US provides medical logistics to Fire Service
The United States on Monday provided essential medical logistics to Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD) as part of US assistance to Bangladesh’s COVID-19 response efforts.
ADB to provide $500 mn loan to Bangladesh to mitigate COVID-19 impact
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh on Monday signed $500 million loan agreements to strengthen Bangladesh’s efforts to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic.
Stop violent threats against Rohingyas: Rights bodies to Malaysia
Eighty four national and international humanitarian agencies on Monday expressed their concern over the response of the Malaysian government to threats of violence and ‘hate speech’ directed at ethnic Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia.
Rohingya Repatriation: UNDP, UNHCR, Myanmar extend MoU
The UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Monday agreed with the government of Myanmar to extend the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for activities in Rakhine State amid no repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh.
3, 336 Bangladeshis return home through Benapole checkpost since April
A total of 3,336 Bangladeshis stranded in India amid lockdown following coronavirus outbreak have returned home through Benapole checkpost since April.
Malaysia urged to end violent threats, anti-Rohingya campaign
The government of Malaysia should immediately address "hate speech and violent threats" against Rohingya refugees, Fortify Rights and 83 other organizations said on Monday.
The organisations made the call in an open letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
In April 2020, hateful messages targeting the Rohingya community in Malaysia proliferated social media platforms, causing widespread fear of physical violence and discrimination among Rohingya refugees.
“The government should publicly condemn all forms of violence and hate directed at the Rohingya,” said Amy Smith, Executive Director of Fortify Rights.
“The campaign against Rohingya in Malaysia is dangerous, vulgar, and inconsistent with Malaysia’s human rights obligations.”
In the open letter, Fortify Rights, Article 19, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, and others called upon the Malaysian government to “consistently, unequivocally and publicly condemn all forms of hate directed at the Rohingya” and prevent “incendiary” social media from triggering “discriminatory acts or physical attacks” against Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, among other recommendations, according to a media release issued from Bangkok.
In April, users of social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, began posting hateful messages that included discriminatory and dehumanizing language and images as well as calls for Rohingya in Malaysia to be forcibly returned to Myanmar.
Users threatened prominent Rohingya activists as well has their supporters with physical attacks, murder, and sexual violence.
“Some of the locals became angry with the Rohingya, thinking we carried the disease,” a Rohingya refugee and human rights defender in Malaysia told Fortify Rights, referring to unsupported claims sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s become very dark for the Rohingya . . . I was threatened on social media and told to leave the country.”
The organizations in the open letter called on the authorities to “ensure threats and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya and their supporters are investigated, and perpetrators held accountable.”
Instead of affirming Malaysia’s obligation to uphold rights and protections for all people, including refugees, within its territory, Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin on April 30 said: “Rohingya nationals who are holders of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees card have no status, rights or basis to make any claims on the government . . . The government does not recognize their status as refugees but as illegal immigrants.”
The Malaysia government should “create an enabling environment for the right to freedom of expression and equality in Malaysia, including by passing comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in line with international human rights standards,” said the signatories to the open letter.
Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) requires governments to prohibit “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.”
In a briefing on April 7, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said state authorities should “ensure that the public discourse and response to COVID-19 does not contribute to xenophobia and racial discrimination.”
The Malaysian government should ratify the ICCPR, the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination, and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, said Fortify Rights
As of February 2020, more than 178,900 refugees in Malaysia are registered with the U.N. refugee agency.
The total number of refugees in the country is likely much higher.
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar comprise more than half of all of Malaysia’s refugee population.
Rohingya continue to face genocide and other international crimes in Myanmar and migration routes available to them remain deadly.
There are more than a million Rohingya refugees in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh.
On April 16, Malaysia pushed out to sea a ship of Rohingya refugees in violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
“Malaysia should end its pushback policy once and for all and allow survivors on board ships to safely disembark,” said Amy Smith.
“Malaysia will be responsible for an untold loss of life if it continues to push back ships arriving by sea.”
114 stranded Bangladeshis return home from UK
A total of 114 Bangladesh citizens, mostly students, arrived here on Monday morning from London, the United Kingdom (UK).
They were stranded in the UK since suspension of international flights between Dhaka and London in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines special chartered flight - BG 4041 - carrying the Bangladesh citizens departed London at 7:45 pm (London Time).
The flight arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9:40am with 114 passengers, Tahera Khandakar, deputy general manager (public relations) of Biman told UNB.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem saw off the returning passengers at the Heathrow Airport.
The flight is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 09:45 am today (Monday), according to Bangladesh High Commission in London.
Earlier at the request of Bangladesh High Commission in London, the government arranged the flight, being operated by the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines and chartered by Bangladesh Air Force Welfare Trust (BAFWT).
The High Commission facilitated the return of the Bangladeshis after forming a COVID-19 Emergency Repatriation Committee.
Initially, more than 200 stranded Bangladeshi citizens, including students booked their flight, but many of them had cancelled their booking at the very last moment citing personal reasons and in the fear of institutional quarantine in Bangladesh on their arrival.
However, the High Commission has already provided all the passengers with a health certificate based on their health assessment so that they would be directed to home quarantine only.
Similarly, the High Commission has assured all passengers travelling from Dhaka to London that they would be guided to home quarantine.
“We are grateful to Bangladesh Government, specially to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina; and for the initiative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bangladesh Air Force in particular for chartering this flight," said High Commissioner Tasneem.
From the High Commission, she said, they are humbly gratified that they could reunite the Bangladeshi citizens, in particular students, stranded in the UK with their families in Bangladesh before Eid-ul-Fitr.
“We also would like to thank particularly UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Home Office, UK Border Agency, London Heathrow Airport Authorities and Biman Bangladesh Airlines for their tremendous support to ensure the safe return of the stranded Bangladeshis during this difficult time of unprecedented coronavirus pandemic," said the High Commissioner.
154 British citizens leave Bangladesh for UK
Around 154 people, mostly Bangladesh-origin British citizens, left Dhaka for London on a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on Sunday.
340 more Canadians leave Bangladesh
More than 340 stranded Canadian citizens and permanent residents left Dhaka for Toronto on Sunday.
Coronavirus: 154 British citizens leave Bangladesh for UK
Around 154 people, mostly Bangladesh-origin British citizens, left Dhaka for London on a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on Sunday.