Red Cross leader: Rohingya crisis needs political solutions

The U.N. has said the Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims last August in retaliation for an insurgent attack was “ethnic cleansing.” (Photo: Jordi Bernabeu Farrús/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

DHAKA, Bangladesh – The international Red Cross leader says humanitarian help alone will not solve the Rohingya refugee crisis and inclusive political solutions are needed for the 700,000 people who fled Myanmar violence to Bangladesh.

The U.N. has said the Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims last August in retaliation for an insurgent attack was “ethnic cleansing.” Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed an agreement for repatriating refugees, but its implementation is uncertain.

President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer visited Rakhine state in Myanmar where the refugees once lived as well as the camps where they live now in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.

He said Tuesday in Dhaka that the crisis will not be resolved without political commitment, environmentally sustainable economic investment and a strong commitment to humanitarian law.