Bangladesh Calls for Global Support to End Rohingya Crisis

Bangladesh’s interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, has called on the international community to help end the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority in neighboring Myanmar.

Speaking at an aid conference in Cox’s Bazar on Monday, Yunus highlighted the immense burden Bangladesh carries, hosting 1.3 million Rohingya refugees—the largest refugee population in the world. Most fled Myanmar following a military crackdown in 2017.

“Due to continued persecution, Rohingya continue to leave Myanmar,” Yunus said. “It is our moral responsibility to take the right side of history and stop the armed actors from carrying out their horrible plan to cleanse the Rohingya population.”

The conference aims to discuss ways to ensure the “early, voluntary, and sustainable return” of refugees to Myanmar, even as new arrivals continue to cross the border and limited aid worsens the crisis.

Yunus stressed that Bangladesh cannot shoulder the responsibility alone. “It is not only Bangladesh’s duty but also the responsibility of the international community to share the burden of the Rohingya crisis,” he said.

He also highlighted the strain on Bangladesh, which is still recovering from the August 2024 uprising that overthrew the government of Sheikh Hasina. “The impact on our economy, resources, environment, and society has been huge,” Yunus said. “Given our own challenges, we cannot mobilize more domestic resources.”

While Bangladesh is working tirelessly to support the refugees, Yunus emphasized that the root of the crisis lies in Myanmar. “The Rohingya crisis started there, and the solution must come from there as well,” he said.

The aid talks in Cox’s Bazar come ahead of a United Nations conference on the Rohingya crisis scheduled for September 30 in New York.