Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah’s killing should be a clarion call to the international community to redouble its pressure on Myanmar to recognise the Rohingya and accept their return to their homes in Rakhine State, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Friday.
She also emphasised the international community’s role to pursue accountability for the terrible crimes committed against them.
Bachelet expressed her shock and sadness over the killing of Rohingya human rights defender Mohib Ullah and called for a prompt, thorough and effective investigation into his death.
“It is heartbreaking that a person who spent his life fighting to ensure that the violations committed against the Rohingya people were known worldwide has been murdered in this way,” she said.
Mohib Ullah, who was chair of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), was shot dead Wednesday by unknown assailants in the Kutupalong refugee camp of Cox’s Bazar.
Set up in August 2017, the camp currently hosts more than 750,000 Rohingya people who fled the mass killings, rapes and persecution by the Myanmar army and security forces.
For years, Mohib Ullah methodically collected information about human rights violations of the Rohingya in their home state of Rakhine, in northwestern Myanmar, and sought to galvanise international action.
He travelled to Geneva in March 2019 to address the 40th session of the Human Rights Council in person, explaining how deeply the Rohingya had been discriminated against for decades and deprived of their basic rights, including nationality, land, health and education.
“Imagine if you have no identity, no ethnicity, no country. Nobody wants you. How would you feel? This is how we feel today as Rohingya,” he told states attending the Human Rights Council session. “We are citizens of Myanmar, we are Rohingya.”
“His words were very powerful and highlighted the terrible situation of the Rohingya and today, four years later, they echo as a reminder that Rohingya are still waiting for justice and waiting to return home,” the high commissioner said, adding that Mohib Ullah’s death highlights the precarious conditions of the Rohingya in both countries.
“Whoever was responsible for his murder, Mohib Ullah’s death is a clear example of the insecurity in the camp, and the apparent attempts to silence moderate civil society voices,” she added.
“A prompt, thorough, and independent investigation should be conducted not only to identify and apprehend his killers, and expose their motives, but also to define what measures are needed to better protect vulnerable civil society leaders while avoiding further securitisation in the camps,” Bachelet said.
“I fully understand the huge challenges Bangladesh has faced in hosting the Rohingya refugees and the need for more external support. However, the safety and protection, as well as basic rights of refugees and those hosted in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char must be ensured.”
Source: United News of Bangladesh