ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) has said Bangladesh cannot cover on its own the needs of about 1 million Rohingya refugees.

“The sad truth is that, by and large, the international community has failed the Rohingya. It is a crying shame that, so far, the global community has only provided a meagre 13% of the Joint Response Plan adopted by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to fund the camps,” said Mercy Barends, APHR Board Member and member of the Indonesian House of Representatives.

On the other hand, Barends said, ASEAN member states should stop treating the Rohingya in their countries as ‘illegal immigrants,’ and start providing them with the protection they deserve and need as refugees.

She recognized the extraordinary generosity of the Bangladeshi government and people, who have provided refuge for Rohingya people for the past five years.

The APHR Board Member made the remarks on the fifth anniversary of the Myanmar military's "clearance operations" against the Rohingya in Northern Rakhine State, known as "Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.”

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“On this somber occasion, five years since the Myanmar military forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to abandon their homes through a campaign of genocidal violence, we mourn the thousands who died, and stand with all the survivors who continue to live without basic rights and services in camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar,” Barends said.

She said it is long past time for ASEAN governments and their partners to take swift and stern action against the perpetrators of the most serious crimes against humanity on the Rohingya people.

“Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his close allies should not be in power; they should be in court. They have taken the international failure to act five years ago as a license to illegally grab power from elected officials on 1 February 2021 and commit further atrocities that continue to this very day,” Barends said.