As Canada renews strategy for Rohingya crisis, advocates urge rethink
OTTAWA — As Canada’s strategy for supporting Rohingya people expires, advocates are calling for a rethink of how Ottawa is trying to limit suffering in refugee camps in Bangladesh, and to rout the military junta overseeing ethnic violence in Myanmar.
“We cannot turn away from this,” said Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In October 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Rae as a special envoy to Myanmar, following brazen violence by Buddhist extremists against their Muslim neighbours, the Rohingya. Human rights groups say the country’s military killed, raped and burned entire villages.
The crisis has forced nearly one million Rohingya people to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they languish in a crowded camp. Rae issued a report on the crisis, which led Canada to launch a strategy in 2018.