to sustainable development. Repeated calls to the international community for assistance have helped to meet the immediate needs of the refugees. Despite substantial efforts by humanitarian organizations to alleviate suffering, observes President Peter Maurer of the International Committee of the Red Cross, “Too many people are still suffering too much, despite all the talking and all the efforts.” Today Bangladesh confronts an inescapable dilemma. The short-term goal was to shelter the Rohingya people in their exile. Now, the medium-term target must be to improve the immediate quality of their life by providing the essentials of community – education, sanitation, health care. Somewhat in contradiction to these immediate needs, however, the long-term goal must be to repatriate the Rohingya to their home area, Rakhine state, in Myanmar in “a safe, voluntary and dignified manner.” How to accomplish these simultaneous and competing ends? Summer 2018 brought a stream of United Nations and international officials to Bangladesh including UN Secretary General António Guterres, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund Dr. Natalia Kanem, and UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee. In the midst of a summer of many discontents around the world, their goal was to focus attention on the continuing plight of the Rohingya and to prepare an action agenda for the opening of the UN General Assembly in September. These leaders met in Dhaka with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other government officials to express the appreciation of the international
community for the efforts Bangladesh had undertaken and to learn the government’s plans for the future of the refugees. They went to see first-hand the situation in the Rohingya settlements and review options under consideration in Bangladesh. They deliberated and examined how best to effectively engage the government of Myanmar in the work of repatriation by securing the resettlement environment, building suitable housing and offering productive economic opportunities. Diplomatic Connections was pleased to have the opportunity to speak at length with Bangladesh’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York, H.E. Masud Bin Momen. A career diplomat, prior to his posting in New York, Masud Bin Momen served as Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Japan and previous to that as Ambassador to Italy where he was also Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. He has long experience in multilateral and multisector diplomacy designed to bridge his country’s relations across South and Southeast Asia. Diplomatic Connections: For Bangladesh, what is the importance of being here in New York at the United Nations? What is the importance of the United Nations as a multilateral institution? Ambassador Masud Bin Momen: For any country the United Nations is the ultimate forum for international interaction on a government-to-government level. Not only is the United Nations the key forum for multilateral diplomacy, it also offers a vital locale for bilateral and regional diplomacy to take place. When Bangladesh gained its independence, we also
Masfiqur Sohan/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled from Myanmar violence a few months before offer Eid prayers on June 16, 2018 while held at Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
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