Bangladesh suffered the largest deterioration in South Asia on the 2018 Global Peace Index, largely driven by a colossal influx of Rohingya refugees.
Bangladesh’s rank plunged 10 places to 93 out of 163 countries, compared to the previous year.
The Sydney-headquartered Institute for Economics and Peace came up with the data in its report published on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
The index shows the world is less peaceful today than at any time in the last decade.
The number of refugees fleeing conflicts around the world ballooned to 1 percent of the global population, the highest level in modern history.
This is the 12th edition of the Global Peace Index, which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness.
In Bangladesh, improvements in political stability and terrorism impact failed to offset a rapid fall in “external conflicts”, and relations with neighbouring countries, which were adversely affected by the influx of 700,000 Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar since August 2017, according to the report.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
Myanmar fell 15 places year-on-year to 122, its lowest ranking. The majority of Myanmar’s deterioration occurred in the Safety and Security domain, which deteriorated by 0.33 points. Tensions between the Rohingya Muslim community in Rakhine and Buddhists escalated significantly in the wake of the attacks led by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an ethnic Rohingya insurgent group, in August 2017 against 16 police stations.
“This has resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the country's shared border with Bangladesh,” the Institute for Economics and Peace said in the report.
There is a growing risk that the long-running mistrust between the Muslims and the Buddhists in Rakhine spreads to other parts of Myanmar, affecting the day-to-day safety of individuals from both groups, according to the report.
Conflicts between the two groups have also resulted in increased political instability, as tensions between Myanmar and the West have increased since the army's heavy-handed crackdown against suspected Muslim insurgents.
MODI’s INFLUENCE
South Asia retained its eighth place in the global rankings despite a slight improvement in its overall score. The inequality of peace in the region continued to widen over the year, with the least peaceful nations—Afghanistan and Pakistan—continuing their decline, while the most peaceful—Bhutan and Sri Lanka—continued to improve.
India, the region’s most populous country, recorded a slightly improved overall score. Government efforts to tackle violent crime have paid off with an improved score, and falling levels of military expenditure, particularly on weapons imports, resulted in a slight improvement in its “militarisation” score.
However, the concentration of power in the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to deterioration in India’s score for political instability, and the country’s scores on the Political Terror Scale and internal conflicts fought, at 4 and 4.7 respectively, remain elevated.
