The Geutanyoë Foundation participated in the Extraordinary Session of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) Council of Foreign Ministers on the Situation of the Rohingya Muslim Minority in Myanmar at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia. The meeting was called by the Government of Malaysia to discuss the human rights and humanitarian situation of the Rohingya with OIC Member States. The conference was opened by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. In his speech, the Prime Minister stated “Far too many people have lost their lives in Myanmar. Many have suffered appalling deaths, and those that have lived through the atrocities have witnessed or endured unspeakable cruelty. That in itself is a reason why we cannot keep silent. In recent years, Malaysia has been on the frontline when it comes to the irregular movement of people. As it is, we are hosting around 56,000 displaced Rohingya men, women and children who have had to flee from Rakhine State.
The Malaysian Prime Minister also underlined that Malaysia has been Myanmar’s strongest supporter in the region including bringing Myanmar into ASEAN. However, the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine has caused instability to the whole region and therefore it was the collective responsibility of all the affected countries in the region and of OIC countries to ensure that the rights and dignity of the Rohingya people are protected and that a just, comprehensive long-term and sustainable solution be found to the crisis in Rakhine State.
Read More: http://www.nst.com.my/news/2017/01/205439/speech-text-pm-najib-extraordinary-oic-session-rohingya-situation?d=1.
International director of the Geutnyoë Foundation (right), accompanied by a member of the Geutanyoë Foundation in special invitation to The Extraordinary Session of The OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Malaysia convention center.
A video made by Geutanyoë Foundation in partnership with HUMANiTi Malaysia on the humanitarian situation of the Rohingya in Rakhine and Rohingya refugees in Indonesia and Malaysia was screened before the speech of OIC Special Envoy on Myanmar and President of HUMANiTi Malaysia, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar. In his speech, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar reported to Foreign Ministers and OIC officials Based on reports I get from the various sources, I found them to be correct information. Just two days ago we received a report on the Indonesian aid and activists telling me the assistance has not arrived at targeted areas.“My concern is the Muslims can’t move out from their camps and they don’t have enough food and medicines,” he added.
Malaysia is also pushing for improvement on the conditions for the Rohingya and, more urgently, to allow unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance to reach them.
Geutanyoë Foundation’s International Director, Lilianne Fan, who attended the conference said, “this gathering is the strongest demonstration of solidarity for the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State and a collective commitment from one of the largest intergovernmental organisations in the world to end the violence and cruelty against the Rohingya people and work with all stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the Rakhine crisis. We are very happy to see that commitments were also made to grant stronger protection and to uphold the rights of Rohingya refugees, including in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Hopefully this conference will be a landmark step towards restoring citizenship and dignity to all Rohingya and to ending decades of tragedy in Rakhine State”.
The foreign affairs Minister of the republic Indonesia Retno Marsudi also attended the extraordinary session, as previously asserted that Indonesia is committed to providing support and efforts to resolve the conflict of humanity that occurred in Rakhine state, as scheduled after attending the extraordinary session, Retno Marsudi on 20-22 January will leave for myanmar to conduct working visits and direct delivery of aid from the government of Indonesia, retno itself is the first minister of the Indonesian Republic that visited Rakhine state after a military operation that took place on 9 October last year.