The Bangladeshi government has announced the formation of an 11-member national committee, chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, tasked with developing a comprehensive national strategy aimed at accelerating the sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, while strengthening coordination among the relevant ministries, security agencies and intelligence bodies.
According to the Daily Sun newspaper, the committee was established under a notification issued by the Cabinet yesterday, Sunday. The notification provided for the creation of the committee to set priorities for the refugee repatriation process and oversee coordination among the relevant government bodies.
Under its mandate, the committee will work to set priorities for the repatriation of the Rohingya, strengthen coordination among government institutions, and define the responsibilities and powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies in refugee-related matters.
The government also decided to establish a special task force under the supervision of the committee’s general coordinator. The task force will be responsible for preparing an integrated national strategy for the repatriation of the Rohingya, to be submitted to the committee within three months.
Bangladesh hosts around 1.2 million Rohingya living in harsh humanitarian conditions after fleeing Myanmar following a campaign of violence against them that UN and international reports have described as amounting to “genocide”.
