Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie today demanded Myanmar’s “genuine commitment” to end continued violence against Rohingyas creating conducive environment in Rakhine state to resolve the world’s worst refugee crisis as she wrapped up her two day visit to their crammed makeshift settlements here.
“I urge the Myanmar authorities to show the genuine commitment needed to end the cycle of violence and displacement and improve the condition of all communities in Rakhine state including the Rohingya,” she told a media briefing as a special envoy of UN refugee agency (UNHCR), reports BSS.
Jolie said any government’s “test and measure” was reflected in its treatment with most vulnerable people and society and how they (Myanmar) treat those who stand up for the vulnerable and “speak out for the atrocities against them” as she briefly met the media in this southeastern town.
“The people responsible of human rights violations (in Myanmar) must be held accountable for their action,” said the celebrity as she visited the world’s largest refugee settlement ahead of a new UN appeal for nearly one billion dollars to look after the Rohongya influx in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh provided the makeshift refuge to over one million Rohingyas who fled their home in neighbouring Myanmar’s Rakhine state to evade atrocities which the UN called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” while rights groups dubbed it “genocide” as the brutality forced 720,000 Muslim Rohingyas flee the military clampdown in August 2017.
Over four lakh of them took refuge in Bangladesh previously in view of the atrocities ahead of the latest spate of exodus earning the Rohingyas the status of world’s most persecuted minority community.
Jolie described Bangladesh as a “generous country with rich culture and history but with limited resources” and said it must not be left to tackle the crisis alone.
She urged the international community to continue to provide the humanitarian aid necessary to meet the need of the refuges as well as support the local community who generously hosted the huge numbers of displaced Rohingyas.
“I am humble and proud to stand with you (Rhoingya) today, you have every right to living security, to be free to practice your religion and to coexist with people of other faiths and ethnicities, you have every right not to be stateless and the way you have been treated (in Myanmar) shames us all.”
Jolie visited different camps on the outskirts of Cox’s Bazar and talked to Rohingyas and listened to their horrifying stories as she went straight to a camp in Teknaf near the Myanmar border after arriving in the capital Dhaka yesterday.
The special UNHCR envoy will conclude her Bangladesh tour tomorrow when she is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, officials said.
UNHCR officials said during the meetings, Jolie was expected to discuss how the UN refugee agency could best support the current response led by the Bangladeshi government, along with the need for safe and sustainable solutions to their plights.
UN said it was set to launch of a new appeal for the humanitarian situation in Bangladesh – the 2019 Joint Response Plan- which seeks to raise some $920 million to continue meeting the basic needs of Rohingyas and the communities so generously hosting them.
This is the Jolie’s first visit to Bangladesh but she also met Rohingyas during a visit to Myanmar in July 2015 and in India in 2006.