A special rapporteur of the United Nations says the international community should build a better partnership with Bangladesh and cut off the Myanmar military leadership in dealing with the Rohingya refugee crisis.

“Bangladesh cannot and should not bear this responsibility alone,” Tom Andrews, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, told a news conference in Dhaka on Sunday.

“The cause of this crisis and the ultimate resolution of this crisis is not here in Bangladesh, but in Myanmar.”

The Rohingya are an ethnic group, more than 700,000 of whom fled persecution and violence in neighbouring Myanmar in August 2017. Since then, Bangladesh has been sheltering nearly a million refugees in crowded camps near its coast.

ALSO READ THIS: UN RAPPORTEUR: ROHINGYA MILITANTS KILL, ABUSE REFUGEES IN BANGLADESH CAMPS

Bangladeshi officials say the crowded nation of more than 160 million people is overburdened because of the refugee crisis.

Andrews met with Rohingya refugees, officials of the international aid agencies and Bangladesh officials to review the refugee crisis in the country.

“I will do everything in my capacity to push for a stronger, more coordinated international response to this crisis, including the imposition of pressure on the Myanmar military and for concrete measures to hold the military junta fully accountable for this crisis,” he said.

He said the international community, if necessary, should block sources of revenue Myanmar’s military is receiving. A UN-sponsored investigation in 2018 recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the violence against the Rohingya.

Read more…