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General
Let me first express our profound appreciation to the outgoing Chair, the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia, for his engaging and energetic Presidency of the OIC Group during the preceding year.
I also take this opportunity to congratulate the Permanent Representative of Kuwait on assuming the Chair of the Group here for the year 2015-16. My delegation will fully support your efforts to promote the OIC’s interests at the United Nations.
Let me also affirm that Pakistan will happily continue its responsibilities as the Coordinator of the Working Group on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
Rohingyas
I am grateful to you, Mr. President, for including the issue of Rohingya Muslims on the agenda of today’s meeting at my delegation’s request.
The idea was to provide an opportunity to member states to exchange views on this important and urgent issue – to reflect on what has been done and deliberate on how to bring the plight of Rohingya Muslims to the attention of the UN here and to ensure respect for the human rights of this beleaguered community.
We also wish to see how OIC member states can help Rohingya Muslims through provision of critical humanitarian assistance. There is urgent need to set up a special OIC fund to help in the relief and rehabilitation of this persecuted and displaced community.
While the predicament of the Rohingya Muslims is of long standing, the root cause lies in the persistent denial of their fundamental human rights and liberties, including the right to citizenship. Subjected to systematic discrimination, restrictions on freedom of movement and practice of religion, constraints on property rights as well as access to education and health, they are certainly one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
They are forced to escape a life of confinement, waves of deadly violence directed against them, humiliation, persecution and lack of legal status in their own country. These unbearable conditions have compelled them to flee in desperate search for safety and human dignity.
At its 42nd Session in Kuwait earlier this month, the ICFM, in its Resolution 4/42 expressed deep concern over continued systematic discrimination against Rohingya Muslims. Our Foreign Ministers underlined that the current crisis cannot be fully resolved through humanitarian action alone and called upon the Government of Myanmar to restore the citizenship rights of its Rohingya minority.
The UN Security Council, in its meeting of 28th May 2015, also expressed deep concern over the mass exodus of Rohingyas and called for addressing its root causes. The President of the Human Rights Council informed the Security Council that the current crisis was rooted in the discriminatory policies of the Myanmar Government.
We appreciate the Governments of Malaysia and Indonesia who have agreed to provide temporary asylum to over 7,000 asylum seekers besides providing life-saving humanitarian assistance. This however, is not a permanent solution; nor is it appropriate to put the burden of the issue on two or three governments alone. The international community as a whole, and the OIC in particular, has to come together and play its due role for timely, effective and eventually a permanent solution of this problem.
Last week Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a package of financial assistance for the Rohingya Muslims. The Prime Minister will also write a letter to UN Secretary General and President of the Security Council, calling for intensification of diplomatic and moral pressure on the Myanmar government to grant citizenship rights to the community, in accordance with international law. In addition, the Prime Minister proposed the establishment of a high-powered committee comprising OIC foreign ministers on the issue.
I would like to propose that, as a first step, the Kuwaiti Presidency could forward ICFM Resolution 4/42 to the President of the Security Council, with the request to have it circulated as an official document of the Security Council.
With this brief background, may I request you, Mr. Chairman, to open the floor to hear the views of other member states on this issue. This will help toward evolving a collective response to this great tragedy.