UNSC a mute witness to continued deterioration of Rohingya situation, Bangladesh says

Referring to the growing mistrust between people and the global institutions, Bangladesh has urged the UN Security Council to demonstrate unity and decisiveness in addressing visible threats to peace and protecting the most vulnerable, such as the Rohingya minorities.

“Almost six years have passed since the Rohingya minorities were expelled from their ancestral land in Myanmar. No effective action was taken by the Security Council to remedy the situation; rather the Council has remained a mute witness to its continued deterioration,” Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York, said.

He was speaking at the Security Council open debate on “Futureproofing Trust for Sustaining Peace” held at the United Nations Headquarters on Wednesday.

“In order to build trust, the Council must reverse the course of inactions”, he added.

In his statement, Permanent Representative Muhith referred to the critical role of peacekeepers in building trust among communities and called for strengthening the peacebuilding mandates of the peacekeeping missions.

He also called upon the Security Council to leverage the complementary role of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in addressing non-traditional security threats, such as climate change.

“As the Chair of the PBC for two terms, Bangladesh made sincere efforts to unbound the potentials of the Commission,” added the Ambassador.

He also stressed the importance of full equal and meaningful participation of women in building sustainable peace and emphasized on promoting the Women Peace and Security agenda in broader peace and security contexts including in addressing climate change, disaster risk reduction and in humanitarian action.

The open debate was convened by Switzerland as a signature event of its first ever presidency to the security council.

The Foreign Minister of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis chaired the meeting.