Dhaka on Sunday reiterated its position that it could not accommodate any new influx of Rohingyas, urging countries and organisations that recommended further intake to share the burden themselves.
鈥榃e have made it clear to the UNHCR that it is not possible for us to take anymore Rohingyas,鈥� foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain told reporters at the foreign ministry.
He noted that the UN Refugee Agency had requested Bangladesh to shelter new arrivals, which the government had firmly declined.
Touhid pointed out that Bangladesh had already extended more support than expected, hosting 1.2 million Rohingya on humanitarian grounds.
鈥楾hose who come to us with advice or those who want to advise us - let them take the Rohingyas,鈥� he said.
The adviser also mentioned that the government was working to prevent further Rohingya entries where possible, though sealing the border with Myanmar completely remained a challenge.
On September 3, Touhid noted that around 8,000 Rohingya had recently entered Bangladesh, fleeing armed conflict in Myanmar鈥檚 Rakhine state.
He also noted that the border with Myanmar had been sealed, but acknowledged the difficulty of completely securing the frontier.
Since August 25 in 2017, Bangladesh has been hosting over a million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox鈥檚 Bazar and most of them arrived there after a military crackdown by Myanmar, which the UN called a 鈥榯extbook example of ethnic cleansing鈥� and other rights groups dubbed it as 鈥榞enocide鈥�.
In the last seven years, not a single Rohingya went back home. Myanmar agreed to take them back, but repatriation attempts failed twice due to trust deficit among the Rohingyas about their safety and security in Rakhine state.