Daily Times

US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken has said the US is working to significantly increase the resettlement of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.

The US government will take 62 Rohingyas in the first wave. “300 to 800 Rohingyas are anticipated to be moved to the US annually.” 24 migrants have already departed for their new location.

“The first group of 24 Rohingyas departed Bangladesh on Thursday (December 08) as part of the relocation to the US,” said Mainul Kabir, director general of the Myanmar wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The US aims to rehabilitate Rohingyas from Bangladesh in the same way, as it has approximately 10,000 Rohingyas from Malaysia, Thailand, and other nations. The US has urged Myanmar’s government to politicise human rights in order to maintain regional stability.

Japan is one of Myanmar’s most reliable and successful development partners. But in the Rohingya crisis, Japan initially chose to keep quiet before deciding to act as a mediator to find a solution. If Japan had any geopolitical interest in Myanmar, it should have spoken out strongly against the abuse of human rights and other horrors occurring in the Rakhine state. Japan promotes itself as a country that is “value-driven” internationally. Japan is contemplating accepting some Rohingya refugees to lessen the Bangladesh’s burden of hosting nearly one million refugees, the bulk of whom are languishing in cramped camps in the southern border district of Cox’s Bazar after leaving their native Myanmar in 2017.

In an interview on Wednesday, the Japanese Ambassador to Dhaka Ito Naoki stated that Tokyo had received a request from the UN refugee agency to settle Rohingya in Japan.

Japan must be aware that the Rohingya problem has the potential to immediately jeopardise the strategic and economic vision of the Quad countries.

The declaration was made only a few days after 24 Rohingya refugees travelled to the US to formally establish themselves in any third country.

This is the official initiative to settle the refugees in any third nation, even though many Rohingya people have already done so through various means and in many countries.

More than 1.2 million Rohingya are currently being housed in Bangladesh; the majority of them escaped a deadly military campaign in Myanmar’s Rakhine State on August 25, 2017.

The military junta in Myanmar is claimed to have refused to cooperate with the Bangladeshi government’s efforts to bring the Rohingya in a calm and dignified manner.

Bangladesh has requested developed nations to bear the burden of the Rohingya with it due to the approaching uncertainties in the repatriation process.

While the uncertainty of repatriation bothers Rohingyas, the initiative to settle us in third countries, particularly in wealthy countries, is welcome news for the Rohingyas and will keep their hope of dignified survival alive. The secluded Bhasan Char Island in the Bay of Bengal is home to Rohingya refugees, who are in need of $3.7 million in aid from Japan and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

According to the Japan Embassy in Dhaka, the donation will be used to increase access to sexual and reproductive health services, safeguard the safety and dignity of women and girls from gender-based violence, and empower young people.

It is “essential to contemplate third-country resettlement” in addition to returning the Rohingya to Myanmar, according to Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Ito Naoki.

As the first nation in Asia, Japan decided in December 2008 to implement a trial program to accept refugees from Myanmar through third country resettlement.

54 families and 200 individuals, including Rohingya, have been relocated through this program up to this point.

Japan and the international community, according to Naoki, would exert every effort to foster conditions that will enable safe, voluntary, honourable, and sustainable repatriation to Myanmar. Due to their carefully considered geopolitical calculations, important regional powers, like India, have played a difficult game and made it clear that they are not interested in taking any action against Myanmar.

Japan, the foremost liberal democracy in Asia had mostly been silent on the Rohingya problem. This initiative can usher the Rohingya crisis solution in terms of “Third Country Resettlement.” The international community can follow the US, and Japan’s footprint. During a visit to the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar in 2019, the former foreign minister of Japan, Taro Kono, reportedly promised that his country would continue to assist and support the Rohingya. However, Japan had previously even voted against every UNGA and UNHRC resolution that aimed to put pressure on Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya problem. This cold-blooded approach to the crisis was criticised in a study that was issued in 2019 by Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organisation. Without a long-term solution to the Rohingya issue, the Japanese government and civil society organisations urgently need to understand that their country’s numerous geopolitical, economic, and humanitarian stakes remain in grave danger. Now, Japan has begun to understand the reality, which is appreciable.

By addressing the current Rohingya crisis, Japan can act as a “Gap Bridger” in this situation, fostering cooperation in the areas of preferential trade agreements, the blue economy, energy production, maritime trade, and regional connectivity.

While China was permitted to use the ports of Kyaukphyu, Hambantota, Gwadar, and Ream Naval in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Cambodia on a reciprocal basis, Bangladesh has demonstrated a great lot of confidence in Japan to construct the Matarbari deep-sea port while avoiding geopolitical rivalry.

Japan must be aware that since the Rohingya problem broke out in the centre of the Indo-Pacific region, it has the potential to immediately jeopardise the strategic and economic vision of the Quad countries, which cherishes the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and freedom.

To solve important regional concerns like the Rohingya crisis for peace and stability, Japan must join with and exert influence over other important parties in the region. Now, in accordance with its peace-centric constitution (article-9), Japan must take a firm stand for justice and human rights on all international platforms on matters like the Rohingya crisis. The wise words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” must be kept in mind.

The US aims to rehabilitate Rohingyas in the same way as it has approximately 10,000 Rohingyas from Malaysia, Thailand, and other nations. The US and Japan both must pressure Myanmar’s government to politicise human rights in order to maintain regional stability. The depth of the Rohingya situation will once again become apparent to the world when the United States and Japan’s resettlement program for them starts. To build an atmosphere that is conducive to the sustained repatriation of Rohingyas, the United Nations and international partners must implement specific initiatives. The Rohingya issue should be effectively discussed at the diplomatic level with friendly nations. It must be proven that the Rohingya issue is a human rights issue that affects the entire world, not just Myanmar.

The writer is a freelance columnist.