Killings, torture, rape, evictions, destruction of religious places, burning entire villages…. The atrocities committed against the Rohingyas in Myanmar since the 25th of August 2017 constitute an ethnic cleansing, if not worse.
Seven month after the beginning of the operations of Myanmar’s army, and now that the international attention has faded, for the more than 680,000 refugees in Bangladesh and 120,000 internally displaced persons the situation remains alarming.
This situation requires determined actions, in emergency as in the long term. The fundamental issues are mainly on two levels: humanitarian and political.
In humanitarian terms, the Rohingyas today still suffer from the material, social, educational, health and psychological consequences of the atrocities committed against them, whilst the approaching monsoon makes them even more vulnerable.
So that the vitally needed aid reaches the refugee camps in Bangladesh, the international community must continue and intensify its engagement.
The second Pledging Conference for the Rohingya Refugee Crisis will be held on the 14th of March in Geneva. The objective is to raise 940 million dollars to cover the humanitarian needs from March until December 2018. The previous Conference raised 360 million dollars of the 434 million needed.
We call on the States, of which we are parliamentarians, the European Union and the rest of the international community, to take their resp
onsibility and contribute to this fund in order to achieve its objective of 940 million dollars.
In political terms, an agreement was signed on the 23th of November 2017 between Bangladesh and Myanmar for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar within two years. A first list of some 8,000 volunteers was created on the 16th of January, and they still await the validation of Myanmar.
How to ensure the access of humanitarian actors to internally displaced persons who do not receive the humanitarian assistance they urgently need? How can we guarantee the survival and security to Rohingyas in Myanmar when they have been victims of discrimination for decades and the whilst the army, who controls the power, is the main responsible for the recent violent persecutions?
These guarantees are essential to allow the return of the refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes, and to ensure that it does not mean further violations of their rights or the risk of new mass atrocities.
Therefore, pressure on the army, as on the Special State Counsellor and Spokesperson of the President Ang San Suu Kyi, is necessary.
We call on the States of which we are parliamentarians, on the European Union and on the rest of the international community, to adopt sanctions if all necessary guarantees for the protection of Rohingya are not fulfilled, and to make sure that those responsible for the ethnic cleansing are held accountable for their crimes.
It is our common the responsibility to act in order to ensure the protection of Rohingyas, to prevent the worsening of their already terrible situation, and to allow them to have perspectives for the future.
Benjamin Abtan, Coordinator of the Elie Wiesel Network of parliamentarians of Europe, President of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement – EGAM
With 200 parliamentarians of 27 countries of Europe:
Adrien Taquet, MP (France), Aengus O'Snodaigh, MP (Ireland), Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, MP (France), Alain Milon, MP (France), Alex Cunningham, MP (UK), Alex Sobel, MP (UK), Alexandra Louis, MP (France), Andrew Mitchell, MP (UK), Angelo Barrile, MP (Switzerland), Anissa Khedher, MP (France), Anne Blanc, MP (France), Barbara Gysi, MP (Switzerland), Bertrand Pancher, MP (France), Birgitta Ohlsson, MP (Sweden), Brian Stanley, MP (Ireland), Brid Smith, MP (Ireland), Brigitte Lherbier, MP (France), Caoimhghin O'Caolain, MP (Ireland), Carles Campuzano, MP (Spain), Carol Monaghan, MP (UK), Carol Nolan, MP (Ireland), Cécile Rilhac, MP (France), Charles De Courson, MP (France), Christiane Vienne, MP (Belgium), Christophe Arend, MP (France), Christopher Stephens, MP (UK), Claire O'Petit, MP (France), Claudia Friedl, MP (Switzerland), Dany Wattebled, MP (France), David Cullinane, MP (Ireland), David Davies, MP (UK), David Lammy, MP (UK), Denise Mitchell, MP (Ireland), Dennis Gratz, MP (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Dessie Ellis, MP (Ireland), Dimitri Houbron, MP (France), Dominique Potier, MP (France), Donnchadh O'Laoghaire, MP (Ireland), Edmond Spaho, MP (Albania), Emilie Guérel, MP (France), Eoin O'Broin, MP (Ireland), Ericka Bareigts, MP (France), Fabien Gouttefarde, MP (France), Fabien Roussel, MP (France), François Desquesnes, MP (Belgium), François-Michel Lambert, MP (France), Frits Lintmeijer, MP (Netherlands), Gabriel Serville, MP (France), Geneviève Levy, MP (France),George Howarth, MP (UK), Gerry Adams, MP (Ireland), Graham Jones, MP (UK), Grahame Morris, MP (UK), Hubert Julien-Laferrière, MP (France), Imelda Munster, MP (Ireland), Jacqueline Dubois, MP (France), Jacques Brotchi, MP (Belgium), Jacques Maire, MP (France), Jan Peumans, MP (Belgium), Jean François Mbaye, MP (France), Jean Paul Lecoq, MP (France), Jean-Christophe Lagarde, MP (France), Jean-Claude Leclabart, MP (France), Jean-Luc Lagleize, MP (France), Jean-Luc Reitzer, MP (France), Jennifer De Temmerman, MP (France), Jo Stevens, MP (UK),Joan Collins, MP (Ireland), Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, MP (Poland),Johann Saathoff, MP (Germany), John Brady, MP (Ireland), John Grogan, MP (UK), John Paul Phelan, MP (Ireland), Jonathan O'Brien, MP (Ireland), Jonathan Reynolds, MP (UK), Jordi Xucla, MP (Spain), Jose Ignacio Echaniz Salgado, MP (Spain), Kai Gehring, MP (Germany), Karel Shwarzenberg, MP (Czech Republic), Kathleen Funchion, MP (Ireland), Laura Castel i Fort, MP (Spain), Laurent Pietraszewski, MP (France), Laurence Fehlmann Rielle, MP (Switzerland), Lezgin Botan, MP (Turkey), Liliane Maury Pasquier, MP (Suisse), Lilianne Ploumen, MP (Netherlands), Lionel Causse, MP (France), Lisa Mazzone, MP (Switzerland), Louise O'Reilly, MP (Ireland), M'jid El Guerrab, MP (France), Marlene Farrugia, MP (Malta), Martin Ferris, MP (Ireland), Martin Kenny, MP (Ireland), Martine Leguille-Balloy, MP (France), Mary Lou McDonald, MP (Ireland), Maud Petit, MP (France), Maureen OSullivan, MP (Ireland),Maurice Leroy, MP (France), Maurice Quinlivan, MP (Ireland), Meyer Habib, MP (France), Michael Danby, MP (Australia), Michal Boni, MP (Poland), Michel Amiel, MP (France), Michel Zumkeller, MP (France), Milorad Pupovac, MP (Croatia), Mogens Lykketoft, MP (Denmark), Mohamed Laqhila, MP (France), Nassimah Dindar, MP (France), Nelly Tocqueville, MP (France), Nic Dakin, MP (UK), Nicholas Wilkinson, MP (Norway), Nicolas Turquois, MP (France), Olivier Damaisin, MP (France), Olivier Léonhardt, MP (France), Pat Buckley, MP (Ireland), Patrice Perrot, MP (France), Paul Molac, MP (France), Paul Sweeney, MP (Uk), Peadar Toibin, MP (Ireland),Pearse Doherty, MP (Ireland), Pierre Ouzoulias, MP (France),Prof. dr. R.Ruard Ganzevoort, MP (Netherlands), Ricardo Antonio Garcia Mira, MP (Spain), Richard Lioger, MP (France), Roger Godsiff, MP (UK), Sabine de Bethune, MP (Belgium), Sadet Karabulut, MP (Netherlands), Said Abdu, MP (Sweden), Sandy Martin, MP (UK), Sarah Champion, MP (UK), Sari Essayah, MP (Finland), Sasa Magazinovic, MP (Bosnia and Herzegovina),Sébastien Nadot, MP (France), Sophie Auconie, MP (France), Sophie Joissains, MP (France), Søren Søndergaard, MP (Denmark), Stefan Wallin, MP (Finland), Stéphane Demilly, MP (France), Stéphane Testé, MP (France), Stéphanie Kerbarh, MP (France), Stephen Doughty, MP (UK), Thelma Walker, MP (UK), Thomas P Broughan, MP (Ireland), Timo Harakka, MP (Finland), Tom Brake, MP (UK), Tony Lloyd, MP (UK), Ulla Sandbæk, MP (Denmark), Vincent Ledoux, MP (France), Virginie Duby-Muller, MP (France), Xavier Iacovelli, MP (France), Yannick Favennec Becot, MP (France), Yves Jégo, MP (France), Yannick Jadot, MEP (France), Ana Gomes, MEP (Portugal), Anna Hedh, MEP (Sweden),, Barbara Matera, MEP (Italy), Brando Benifei, MEP (Italy), Heinz K.Becker, MEP (Austria), Helga Trüpel, MEP (Germany), Helmut Scholz, MEP (Germany), Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, MEP (Spain), Jiří Pospíšil, MEP (Czech Republic), Jude Kirton-Darling, MEP (UK),, Marie-Christine Vergiat, MEP (France), Marita Ulvskog, MEP (Sweden),Michèle Rivasi, MEP (France), Nathalie Griesbeck, MEP (France), Olle Ludvigsson, MEP (Sweden), Pascal Durand, MEP (France), Patrick Le Hyaric, MEP (France), Pavel Telicka, MEP (Czech Republic), Petra De Sutter, MEP (Belgium), José Bové, MEP (France), Hilde Vautmans, MEP (Belgium), Hans-Olaf Henkel, MEP (Germany), Ivan Jakovcic, MEP (Croatia), Soraya Post, MEP (Sweden), Julie Ward, MEP (United-Kingdom),Ismail Ertug, MEP (Germany), Sorin Moisa, MEP (Romania), Gabriele Zimmer, MEP (Germany), Monica Macovei, MEP (Romania), Merja Kyllonen, MEP (Finland), Maite Pagazaurtundua, MEP (Spain), Maria Arena, MEP (Belgium), Frank Engel, MEP (Luxembourg), Jose Inacio Faria, MEP (Portugal), Margrete Auken, MEP (Denmark), Gérard Deprez, MEP (Belgium), Bodil Valero, MEP (Sweden), Dimitrios Papadimoulis, MEP (Greece), Dr. Charles Tannock, MEP (UK), Ferenc Gyurcsány, MEP (Hungary), Petri Sarvamaa, MEP (Finland), Seb Dance, MEP (UK), Sven Giegold, MEP (Germany), Tokia Saïfi, MEP (France), Virendra Sharma, MEP (UK), Wenta Bogdan, MEP (Poland), Younous Omarjee, MEP (France), Theresa Griffin, MEP (UK)
Original French: https://www.nouvelobs.com/monde/20180313.OBS3509/protection-de-la-vie-des-rohingyas-il-faut-repondre-aux-defis-humanitaires-et-politiques.html
(c) 2018 European Grassroots Antiracist Movement