ROHINGYA INFORMATION CENTER

The first OIC Contact Group Meeting on the Rohingya agreed on the need to provide development projects in the Arakan region of Myanmar and not just humanitarian aid. The meeting stressed on supporting the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in gaining their legitimate rights as citizens and stressed on their human rights.




In his speech to the meeting, which took place on 26 September 2012 on the sidelines of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said that the meeting is in implementation of resolutions of the 4th Extraordinary Summit held in Makkah last August (Ramadan). The Summit had also decided to send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar, which was dispatched early September, and the Contact Group Meeting reviewed the report submitted by the mission on the physical and legal conditions of Rohingya Muslims. During its visit, the mission signed a memorandum of cooperation between the OIC and the Government of Myanmar to establish a Humanitarian Affairs Office.



Dr. Wakaruddin, the Director of the Arakan Rohingya Union, which was established by the OIC in May 2011 to unite Rohingya refugees around the world, gave the contact group meeting an update on the humanitarian and security situation, especially in terms of abuse and persecution of Muslims, in Arakan.



The Secretary General said to the meeting that he wishes to visit Myanmar as soon as the position of the Government of Myanmar and their willingness to remedy the fundamental rights issues of the Rohingya Muslims are made clear through accepting signing a joint statement or communiqué to be issued in conjunction with his visit.



The Contact Group meeting called for the convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council and adoption of a resolution by the UN General Assembly at its 67th Session on the situation in Myanmar. It invited the OIC Secretary General to visit Myanmar to communicate the strong expectation of the Member States with a view to ending violence and restoration of the rights of the Rohingya Muslims. The Meeting also called upon the Government of Myanmar to launch a rehabilitation and reconciliation process in the region; to endeavor to reintegrate the two communities that are currently segregated due to the events; to resettle the internally displaced persons to new homes and to take measures for the long-term economic development of the region.