Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called on world leaders to "act seriously" to ensure the repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
Speaking at the ceremonial opening of the Paris Peace Forum held at Grande Halle de la Villette, Hasina said: "The world must act seriously to make sure these people are back to Myanmar soon. Otherwise, the security risks from the crisis will not just remain confined within our borders. We already see the signs of that."
In her speech titled, 'Minding the Gap: Improving Global Governance after Covid-19,' Sheikh Hasina mentioned that Bangladesh helped the world avoid a major regional crisis by giving temporary shelter to Myanmar's forcibly displaced people - the Rohingya community in August 2017.
The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to be from within the community.
These were followed by systematic counterattacks against the minority, mainly Muslim Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing.
Since August 25, 2017, more than 7,00,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have fled to Bangladesh.
This Rohingya refugee crisis is among the largest, fastest movements of people in recent history.
Flooding into Cox's Bazar district in Bangladesh, the refugees joined more than 2,00,000 Rohingyas who fled years before, a report from world vision informed.
Today, about 880,000 stateless Rohingya refugees live in the world's largest and most densely populated refugee camp, Kutupalong. About half of the refugees are children, the report added.
On March 22, 2021, their plight intensified after a massive fire swept through Cox's Bazar, destroying more than 10,000 shelters, food distribution sites, and clean water and sanitation facilities.
( With inputs from ANI )
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