One of the oft-repeated statement when someone assumes a new position is a request for the staff under them to work with 'honesty and dedication'. Umm -- yes but isn't that a pre-requisite of any employee? For the uninitiated such as this scribe such statements trigger quite the opposite reaction: then these staff must be by logic 'dishonest and undedicated'. Somewhat similar are comments from ministers and dignitaries that sound just as, perhaps even more hollow.
A former colleague, brilliant in her own way had just one line to share - 'didn't know how complex it is at ground level'. She is one person who doesn't need a lecture on honesty and dedication.
Diplomatic parley is one such area where what is said is not shared and a more watered down, even banal description is circulated. Take for example the statement of the new European Union (EU) head in Dhaka and her meeting with the Foreign Minister where she said the EU would do everything possible to help Bangladesh in looking after and assisting the Rohingya refugees. Umm -- have we missed something here? Or, wasn't it quite recently that the EU envoys made personal visits enroute to Myanmar for a meeting where they couldn't even wrest a statement from Aung San Su Kyi about the 'reasons' she had stressed on uncovering for such an exodus ? Bangladesh was humble enough to thank all those who supported the UN resolution describing the matter as genocide but sadly didn't have what it took to ask the vetoing powers why they did what they did.
From what media reports suggest, whatever numbers that Myanmar have agreed to take back will be housed in concentration camp-like accommodation, further isolating them from integration with Burmese society. This is where UN agencies need to move in. Otherwise, it takes a few sparks to ignite a fire and the camps are conveniently close to the Bangladesh borders. The long-term impact is about smuggling, trafficking, drug peddling and so much more and will stretch our limited resources even further. Even as Bangladesh strives to enlist the 1971 atrocities as genocide, there are moves in Boznia-Herzegovina to bypass similar atrocities there. Where do the Rohingyas go if their torment is listed in history as collateral damage.
With aid budgets being slashed by all and sundry, with physicians shaking their heads at the lack of equipment, medication and staff to tackle growing and breaking illness, where is the 'all kind of support'. There are children being born in the camps each day and we've heard nothing from the UNICEF as to what will happen to them and their citizenship rights? Or are human rights the lecture domain of the privileged, to be ignored for the have-nots?
