Arakan News Agency
The OIC Ministerial Contact Group on the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar convened its meeting on the sideline of the 43rd Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), hosted by the Uzbek Capital, Tashkent, on 18-19 October 2016.
In his statement addressed to the meeting, and delivered on his behalf by the Assistant Secretary General for the Humanitarian Affairs Ambassador Hesham Youssef, the OIC Secretary General, Iyad Ameen Madani, emphasized that despite the progress achieved toward the democratic process, and the assumption of power by a new leadership, there are evidence of a ceaseless and systematic campaign of violence and terror against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
He pointed out that after the lapse of four years of violence in 2012, in the state of Rakhine, nearly 120,000 Rohingya persons still live in camps for the internally displaced, and in view of the policies adopted by the authorities in Myanmar, thousands of Rohingya Muslims were forced to ask for asylum in neighboring countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). As long as these asylum seekers cannot return to their homeland the burden on the hosting countries are likely to increase.
Madani emphasized that the OIC attempted to work with the Myanmar authorities on various levels and called upon it to adopt transparent and comprehensive policies towards religious ethnic minorities. The OIC stressed the necessity to find a means to citizinize the Rohingya people and stated that the government must take concrete and positive steps towards preventing the ongoing acts of discrimination and systematic violations.
The Meeting reviewed the report presented by the OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar, Mr. Tan Sri Hamid Albar. At the conclusion of the Meeting, a report was issued in which the Contact Group urged the Myanmar government to commit to its obligations under the international law and human rights conventions, to take all measures necessary to put an end to the acts of violence and discrimination against the Rohingya Muslims and to cease any ongoing attempts to deprive them of their Islamic culture and identity.
The Meeting called once again upon the Myanmar government to reinstate the citizenship of the Rohingya that was revoked by the Citizenship Law of 1982. It also called on the government to take concrete steps towards preventing any further deterioration of the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State and to guarantee the provision of the rights of all individuals to live and move without fear and persecution on the basis of their religion or ethnicity.
The Meeting also requested the Myanmar government to revive the agreement on opening an OIC office for humanitarian affairs in Yangon after signing a memorandum of cooperation between the two parties. The Office will engage in providing humanitarian aid to those in need and the victims of violence without discrimination.
