Rohingya crisis: Foreign parliaments are not powerless to help the refugees

As the pope made a high profile visit to Myanmar in late November, attention turned to how to help the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled their homes to Bangladesh following violence and what UN officials have described as ethnic cleansing. A deal struck between the two countries to start returning the refugees, has been criticised for going against international refugee law.

Western politicians have also travelled to Myanmar and Bangladesh to witness the crisis in recent months. In September, the British foreign office minister Mark Field travelled to Rakhine state, the centre of the violence. Members of the US senate also travelled there in November. The British Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, a doctor, then travelled to Bangladesh to work in a refugee camp there.

We believe that parliaments in foreign countries, such as those in Europe, can contribute to a resolution of the Rohingya crisis. Many parliaments have the authority and power to shape government policy. Governments such as Myanmar’s are sensitive to foreign opinions. The British and Dutch governments have, for instance, facilitated extensive business investments in the water management infrastructure of Myanmar – and it is not in the country’s interest to lose them. A forceful call from parliaments in Europe could strengthen the existing condemnation by European governments that violence towards the Rohingya population has consequences for Myanmar’s future relations with European countries.
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Rohingya crisis: UN says 270,000 refugees enter Bangladesh

Some 270,000 refugees have fled Myanmar's violence-wracked Rakhine state and entered Bangladesh in the last fortnight, most from the Muslim Rohingya minority, the United Nations said on Friday.

"An estimated 270,000 refugees arrived in Bangladesh in the last two weeks," said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency.

"They are setting up shelters on the roads or whatever empty space they could find," she told AFP.

The UN said an overnight leap in the estimated number of arrivals was because of a more thorough assessment in areas not previously included in its counting.

On Thursday it had put the number at 164,000.

The Rohingya have long been subjected to discrimination in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, which denies them citizenship.

Myanmar's government regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even if they have lived in the country for generations.

Existing refugee camps near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar already hosted around 300,000 Rohingya before the latest upsurge in violence and are now completely overwhelmed.

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