Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Monday urged the international community to take measures for addressing the root causes of the problem related to Rohingya situation.

He made the call when visiting United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, him at state guesthouse Padma.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and senior officials of the ministry were present at the meeting that lasted for over an hour, reports UNB.

The Foreign Minister said the constant presence of the huge number of Myanmar nationals in Cox’s Bazar district has created a number of adverse effects on the overall socio-economic, political, demographic, environmental and humanitarian and security situation of Cox’s Bazar and adjacent districts.

He stressed the peaceful resolution of the longstanding issue of influx from Myanmar to Bangladesh and urged the international community to take measures for addressing the root causes of the problem.

‘We want her to see the situation on the ground physically and hear stories from Rohingya people living here,’ a senior official told UNB after the meeting mentioning that the UN Rapporteur will be visiting Cox’s Bazar from Tuesday.

Lee is currently in Bangladesh for a three-day mission to Cox’s Bazar and will visit various locations in Cox’s Bazar where the population who had fled Myanmar since October 9, 2016 are residing temporarily in makeshift shelters.

During the meeting, Minister Ali apprised the Special Rapporteur of the steps that the government of Bangladesh had taken vis-à-vis Myanmar refugees and the undocumented Myanmar nationals who entered Bangladesh over the years from the Rakhine State of Myanmar, according to the Foreign Ministry here.

He informed her about the repatriation status of the refugees under an agreement negotiated by him in 1992 and informed that as many as 236,599 Rakhine Muslims had been repatriated under that agreement until it came to a halt in 2005.

The Foreign Minister also informed the Special Rapporteur about the initiatives of the government of Bangladesh to engage with Myanmar bilaterally through establishment of border liaison offices and introduction of dialogue on security cooperation.

Minister Ali also highlighted the endeavours to foster regional connectivity involving Myanmar through BCIM and BIMSTEC and thus ensure sustainable development in the region.

The Special Rapporteur thanked the Foreign Minister for allowing her to undertake the visit to Bangladesh, and the Foreign Minister assured her of all sorts of cooperation during her mission.

Following the visit, the Special Rapporteur will issue an ‘end of mission statement’ and share her findings to the UN Human Rights Council which will be available online on March 13, 2017.

‘The announcement that the military security operations in the north of Rakhine has ceased is welcomed. However, we cannot forget the numerous allegations of grave human rights violations recorded by the team deployed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Cox’s Bazar last month,’ Lee said recalling the February 3 OHCHR’s flash report based on the testimonies of over 200 individuals.

The human rights expert will focus on the situation of the specific population from Myanmar who had crossed into Bangladesh in the past 4-5 months and the events, which have led to their crossing over into the country.

‘Having access to these affected communities would help give me a better understanding of their human rights situation in Myanmar,’ she said.