The cause of the Muslim Rohingya refugees is gaining attention and follow up from a humanitarian perspective and obligation of Muslim brotherhood. This cause occupies a big space in the realm of the important issues that were discussed by the 13^th PUIC Conference, which was held in Iran, January, 2018, and focused light on the issue of the Rohingya refugees and the various violations to which they are subjected on the hands of the Burmese forces that forced them to flee their homes. The PUIC Conference mandated the PUIC General Secretariat to dispatch a mission to Bangladesh to visit the refugee camps who took refuge in neighboring Bangladesh coming from the Rakhine State in the State of Myanmar.

            In response to the invitation of the PUIC General Secretariat, the Speaker of the National Legislature (Sudanese Parliament) nominated the delegation of the parliament to participate in the PUIC mission to visit the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh aimed at closely taking stock of their conditions and consider the possibility of extending humanitarian assistance to the refugees.

The Sudanese delegation joined other parliamentary delegations as well as the delegation of the PUIC General Secretariat.

            Following the arrival in Bangladesh and meeting with the Speaker of the Bangladeshi Parliament and the Foreign Minister, the PUIC delegation was briefed on the recent developments in the case of the Rohingya refugees, their needs, and the humanitarian and diplomatic efforts which Bangladesh has been exerting in this regards.

The Sudanese delegation praised the effective and impressive role which the PUIC has been assuming in addressing important and vital issues of the community as well as dealing with the common affairs of Muslims and the entire mankind. The Sudanese delegation also lauded the resolution to dispatch a PUIC mission. It also underlined the role of Sudan’s government and people, and their attention and support of the causes of the Islamic World and Muslim Minorities in various parts of the world. It expressed its great appreciation of the mounting role of the government and the kind people of Bangladesh who have received and hosted our brother the Rohingya refugees and extended humanitarian assistance to them.  The Sudanese delegation offers thanks to the Parliament of Bangladesh and the PUIC General Secretariat for organizing this important visit and facilitating the task of participating delegates.

The PUIC delegations visited the Rohingya refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar region. They listened to the detailed statements about refugees’ suffering. These refugees appealed to the visiting delegation to continue efforts with the international community so as to ensure their return to their homes and the homeland of their ancestors- a permanent return, as soon as possible, in safety, with dignity and preserving their rights in citizenship and identity.

The delegation toured the camps which included dwellings, general and service facilities. It met with workers from different nationalities who work in the camps, and became familiar with the conditions of the refugees, in general, which were miserable. The delegation listened to horrifying accounts from the refugees- about how they were forced to leave their homes, following suffering all kind of affliction and torture perpetrated by Burmese Forces who murdered their relatives and sons and raped their women. They were forced to leave their homes and flee to Bangladesh, arriving after long marches and suffering, with no possessions of their own.

Our visiting delegation realized that local and international organizations periodically offer basic necessities to the groups of refugees coming from Burma.  These needs included medical assistance, water, food, blankets, and oilcloth. However, these do not satisfy the needs of the huge incoming numbers of refugees.

Through the visit, the PUIC delegation arrived at important details, including:

5. The number of refugees is continuously increasing. They need big quantities of medicines and food. They are in dire need of protection, medical treatment, mosquito-nets and blankets.
5. The camps are situated on uneven land with hot tropical climate. All facilities were erected with non-permanent material like bamboos. The dwellings are not suitable and would not withstand heavy and continuous rainfall.
5. Many children have no schooling. Also, there are no qualified teachers for most school subjects.
5. According to available information people in whole villages are on their way to the already crowded camps. The financial situation of those responsible for managing the camps is weak due to the stopping of contributions from states and support organizations according to pledges made last year. No additional material assistance has been arrived.

The Sudanese delegation agreed with other delegations on the necessity of quick action through PUIC Member Parliaments and their respective governments to convince the government of Myanmar through the perspective of an issue of human rights and basic rights and not a religious issue. Nevertheless, it is clearly, an issue of “ethnic cleansing” as it became apparent from statements made by Rohingya refugees. Pressure must be exercised on the Burmese government. There is an urgent need to repatriate the Rohingya refugees to their homes in a safe manner.

Therefore we conclude as follows:

5. Pursuant to the resolutions of the 13^th PUIC Conference, held in Tehran, the delegation condemned the acts of murder, coercive displacement of the Muslim Rohingya inhabitants, as well as, all other savage acts, committed against the Rohingya in a systematic manner, which constitute a serious and blatant violation of the international law and International treaties and conventions concerning human rights. We demand the international community to punish perpetrators of such violation. We call on the Myanmar government to abide by its responsibilities according to the international law and human rights conventions, and to take all measures to stop racist practices against the Rohingya Muslims as well as attempts to obliterate their Islamic culture and identity.
6. We call through the PUIC on the governments of the states of Member Parliaments to continue their efforts with the international community and the United Nations in order to ensure permanent return of all the displaced Muslim Rohingya to their territory, securely, safely and with dignity, and enjoying total citizenship rights, and compensating them all the material and moral losses which they have sustained, and also providing them with the means of decent living.
7. We urge all OIC Member States, relevant UN agencies, voluntary organizations, and all philanthropists to honor their commitments and carry out their duty of extending urgent humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugee camps in order to stop their suffering and to lessen the burden on the State of Bangladesh.

In order to realize the objectives of the visit and its sublime purposes of informing about the ordeal of our brothers the Rohingya refugees, and the possibility of extending humanitarian assistance to them, the Sudanese delegation, prepared, upon its return, a detailed report on the visit and the needs of the refugees. The delegation submitted the report to the leaders and members of the Sudanese parliament.

Furthermore, all the media, humanitarian and legal bodies concerned with the cause of the Rohingya Muslims, will be invited to a workshop in order to discuss the modality of extending assistance to the Rohingya refugees.