In his inaugural policy address, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the new leader of Bangladesh, reaffirmed the country’s commitment to supporting the Rohingya refugee population and the vital garment trade. Yunus, 84, returned to Bangladesh this month after a student-led revolution ousted his predecessor, Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled for 15 years. Hasina fled the country by helicopter on August 5, amidst widespread protests and unrest.
Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, acknowledged the monumental task ahead of him in steering democratic reforms in a country plagued by institutional decay. In his address to diplomats and UN representatives, he emphasized the importance of continuity in addressing two of the biggest policy challenges facing his caretaker administration.
Regarding the Rohingya refugees, Yunus stated, “Our government will continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh. We need the sustained efforts of the international community for Rohingya humanitarian operations and their eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity, and full rights.” Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled neighboring Myanmar in 2017 after a military crackdown that is now the subject of a genocide investigation by a UN court.
Yunus also addressed the vital garment trade, which accounts for around 85% of Bangladesh’s $55 billion in annual exports. “We won’t tolerate any attempt to disrupt the global clothing supply chain, in which we are a key player,” he said. The weeks of unrest and mass protests that toppled Hasina saw widespread disruption to the country’s textile industry, with suppliers shifting orders out of the country.
Yunus took office as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration, comprising fellow civilians and two retired generals. He has expressed his desire to hold elections “within a few months.” Before her ouster, Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.
Yunus’s address was emotional at times, as he reflected on the student-led revolution that brought him to power. “Hundreds of thousands of our valiant students and people rose up against the brutal dictatorship of Sheikh Hasina,” he said. “She fled the country, but only after the security forces and her party’s student wing committed the worst civilian massacre since the country’s independence. Hundreds were killed, thousands were injured.”
A UN fact-finding mission is expected in Bangladesh soon to probe “atrocities” committed during the crackdown. Yunus reiterated his commitment to an impartial and internationally credible investigation into the massacre, stating, “We will provide whatever support the UN investigators need.”
Yunus also reaffirmed his commitment to holding free and fair elections “as soon as we can complete our mandate to carry out vital reforms in our election commission, judiciary, civil administration, security forces, and media.” He emphasized that the Sheikh Hasina dictatorship had destroyed every institution in the country, and his administration would “make sincere efforts to promote national reconciliation.”
