Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday said resettlement of a few Rohingyas in the US is not a solution; rather the solution is repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
“…this is not the solution. The key solution is that they will have to return to their homeland. It’s a process,” he told reporters in Cox’s Bazar after attending a programme there.
Momen said the United States is taking a few Rohingyas as a follow up to his discussion with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
There has been a list of 62 Rohingyas and 24 of them are being taken to the USA in the first batch, said the Foreign Minister.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is requesting big countries to take at least 100,000 Rohingyas each, to share Bangladesh’s burden.
“Some of them are going as part of family reunification. They have their relatives there. I think that’s how the list of 62 came. But it is up to them,” Momen said.
The Biden administration announced on September 27 that the cap on refugee admissions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 would be 125,000—the same as the cap for FY 2022.
Read more: Outgoing Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming hopes Rohingya repatriation will start next year
The admission of up to 125,000 refugees to the United States during Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest, according to the White House.
The admissions numbers shall be allocated among refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States in accordance with the following regional allocations – Africa -40,000, East Asia 15,000, Europe and Central Asia 15,000, Latin America/Caribbean 15,000, Near East/South Asia 35,000 and unallocated reserve 5,000.
The 5,000 unallocated refugee numbers shall be allocated to regional ceilings, as needed.
US Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Julieta Valls Noyes, on Tuesday met Foreign Minister Momen and discussed a “comprehensive approach” to the protracted Rohingya crisis with international support.
Momen said the Bangladesh government wants a better life for the Rohingyas.
Asked about relocation of some Rohingyas in the United States, Momen said it is “just a drop in the ocean”, as Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas.
He said the US did not mention any exact number but he hinted the number could be 62 only in the beginning.
Read more: US diplomat for ‘comprehensive approach’ to deal with Rohingya crisis
“The United States is proud to be able to support resettlement in our country of the very vulnerable Rohingya. This is a priority of President Biden. We are discussing with other governments and with other partners. We will be working together with the international community,” US Assistant Secretary Noyes said, thanking Momen for Bangladesh’s life-saving support for the Rohingyas.