United News of Bangladesh

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Wednesday said greater regional and international support is needed to advance a political solution to the crisis and end the hostilities in Myanmar. The UNHCR called on the international community to maintain support for countries in the region hosting refugees from Myanmar. “Until conditions in Myanmar allow for safe, dignified and sustainable returns, States must continue to provide access to asylum and uphold international protection obligations,” said the UN agency, noting that the UNHCR is “concerned” by Malaysia’s recent return of 1,476 people to Myanmar amid the country’s continuing conflict and dire human rights and humanitarian situation. “We are concerned by these returns at a time when people sent back to Myanmar may face serious risks, and some within the group may be in need of international protection,” said UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Edem Wosornu on Wednesday. “While authorities say the returns are voluntary, those returned had been held in immigration detention. This raises serious questions about whether decisions to return were genuinely free and informed. UNHCR did not have access to the individuals to assess this.” UNHCR fully recognised Malaysia’s sovereign responsibility to manage asylum and migration. However, UNHCR urged Malaysia to ensure that all returns are subject to robust safeguards, including individual assessments and access to protection procedures. The UN agency said decisions to return must be voluntary and assessed outside detention settings. Under the principle of non-refoulement, no one should be returned to a country where they may face persecution, torture or other serious threats to their life or freedom. UNHCR said it remains ready to work with Malaysia to strengthen national asylum and protection arrangements.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Iran has sent the United States a proposal that could allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen within seven days if certain conditions are fulfilled. Speaking to reporters at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Araghchi said Iran had delivered a “concrete seven-day plan” to Washington through Qatar. He said the seven-day period would begin once the United States agrees to the proposal. Under the plan, Washington would have to take a number of measures that Iran believes could require four or five days, Araghchi said. The strait would then be reopened on the sixth day, followed by the start of negotiations with the United States on the seventh day toward a final agreement covering mutually agreed issues. Araghchi said the measures expected from Washington were not new and had already been included in a memorandum of understanding signed by the leaders of the two countries in June. “If there is seriousness in the U.S. side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,” Araghchi said. “The choice now rests with the United States,” he added, stressing that Iran would not accept coercion, threats or intimidation and would not give up its sovereign rights under pressure. The United States and Iran signed an MoU on June 18 aimed at ending the war in the region on all fronts, including Lebanon. Under the agreement, the two sides were expected to begin negotiations within 60 days, with the deadline falling on Aug. 17, to reach a final deal. However, the future of the negotiations remains uncertain following a series of recent escalations between Washington and Tehran.  

Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa strongly criticized Israel's military presence in southern Syria and said the Golan Heights remains an inseparable part of Syrian territory. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, al-Sharaa said Israel had carried out more than 500 air and artillery strikes in Syria since he took power nearly two years ago. He also said Israeli forces had made about 1,200 ground incursions and detained nearly 300 people during the period. Al-Sharaa condemned Israel's control of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981. In 2019, then-US President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of US policy. The United Nations and most of the international community continue to regard the Golan Heights as occupied Syrian territory and do not recognize Israel's annexation. “No attempts at imposing a fait accompli can undermine the legitimacy of our state, the sovereignty of our law, or the force of international law,” al-Sharaa said. “The Golan will remain Syrian land.” Israel has maintained control over part of southern Syria since the fall of Bashar Assad, describing the move as a defensive measure to prevent possible attacks on Israeli territory. Al-Sharaa said Syria remains committed to a 1974 agreement that created a demilitarized buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces, with UN peacekeepers deployed to help maintain calm in the area. He called on Israel to withdraw its forces to the positions held on Dec. 8, 2024, when insurgents led by al-Sharaa ousted longtime Syrian leader Bashar Assad and Israel began deploying forces into the area. On Tuesday, al-Sharaa joked during an Atlantic Council event that he had asked US President Donald Trump why he did not give Israel New Jersey instead of the Golan Heights.

Thailand and Cambodia began a United Nations conciliation process in Singapore on Tuesday to resolve a long-running dispute over maritime territory believed to contain significant reserves of natural gas and other hydrocarbons. The foreign ministers of the two Southeast Asian countries exchanged opening statements at the first meeting held under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides for compulsory conciliation in certain maritime disputes. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow and Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn led their respective delegations at the meeting with a five-member UNCLOS commission. The talks began Monday and are scheduled to continue through Wednesday. The dispute involves overlapping claims to an area believed to hold large and commercially exploitable deposits of natural gas and other hydrocarbons. Cambodia initiated the UNCLOS process in June after Thailand unilaterally ended a 25-year-old memorandum of understanding aimed at resolving the overlapping maritime claims. Thailand withdrew from the agreement following a sharp deterioration in relations with Cambodia and armed clashes between the two countries last year. The neighbors fought over disputed territory along their land border in July and December, leaving several dozen soldiers and civilians dead and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Cambodia called for a peaceful settlement of the maritime dispute. The process, Prak Sokhonn said, should “serve the peoples of both nations and contribute to peace, cooperation and shared prosperity in the region.” He said Cambodia had decided to pursue the UNCLOS proceedings after considering other peaceful options, in line with its commitment to international law and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Sihasak said Thailand remained committed to international law and resolving disputes peacefully. He argued that the previous agreement had made little progress, with the two countries holding only two meetings over 25 years. Thailand wants to “give negotiations a fresh start,” Sihasak said, adding that Bangkok had offered Phnom Penh an opportunity for direct talks before Cambodia turned to the UNCLOS process. “Thailand stands ready to engage in this process constructively, with the aim of achieving, with the Commission’s assistance, a negotiated and equitable solution,” he said. A fragile ceasefire was agreed between the two countries in late December, but tensions have continued, with sporadic incidents and large-scale military deployments reported along the border. Any decision from the UNCLOS process will not be legally binding on the two countries, although both are signatories to the international agreement. Thailand has traditionally opposed having territorial disputes decided by third parties, preferring bilateral negotiations. Bangkok has also long viewed a 1962 ruling by the International Court of Justice, which awarded Cambodia the hilltop Preah Vihear temple along their border, as unfair. The ruling has contributed to continued tensions between the neighboring countries.

The UN General Assembly on Friday endorsed a world map designed to portray Africa and other continents in proportions closer to their actual size, backing a campaign led by African countries and advocacy groups. A resolution sponsored by Togo and supported by members of the African Union received 164 votes in favour. The United States voted against it, while Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine abstained. The resolution encourages governments and institutions to consider replacing the centuries-old Mercator projection with the Equal Earth projection, which geographers say provides a more accurate representation of the relative sizes of continents. The move does not prohibit the use of the Mercator map or make Equal Earth mandatory. Instead, it calls for wider adoption of the newer projection, according to the UN. Under the Mercator projection, Greenland can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa. The Equal Earth map, by contrast, depicts Africa as about 14 times larger than Greenland. “Maps shape our understanding of the world,” Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said before the vote, stressing their influence on education and people's perceptions. Africa No Filter, a leading group behind the campaign, welcomed the resolution and called for accurate maps to be used in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and digital platforms. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also welcomed the decision, saying that correcting a distorted representation of the world was an important step toward greater accuracy. The Mercator projection was developed in the 16th century by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator primarily to assist European sailors with navigation. However, critics say it significantly enlarges areas near the poles while making Africa and South America appear smaller than they actually are. The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018, takes the Earth's curvature into account and depicts continents in proportions closer to their true areas. Geographers say the Mercator projection remains useful for navigation but has limited value for other purposes. “Outside of that very narrow navigation application, there is no point in using it,” said Mark Monmonier, a geography professor at Syracuse University.

Nepal is stepping up relief and recovery efforts following last week's devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border, while rescue teams continue searching for survivors, the United Nations said. For thousands of affected people, the immediate priorities are receiving emergency aid, finding missing family members, recovering the bodies of loved ones and reuniting children separated from their families, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General said. Nepal's disaster management agency said at least 1,200 people have been killed and more than 4,200 remain missing. On the Tibetan side, at least 21 people have died and more than 540 are still unaccounted for, according to Chinese state media. Rescue teams are also working to reach potentially hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside hydropower tunnels in Nepal. The disaster occurred last Wednesday when a massive flash flood, believed to have been triggered by a glacial collapse, swept through a Himalayan valley and destroyed villages in its path. Nepal's disaster management agency said nearly 12,000 people have been rescued since the floods. However, thousands of people remain missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals from countries such as India, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Malaysia. With a week having passed since the disaster, concerns are growing that the death toll could rise further as rescue teams reach more remote and severely affected areas. With inputs from BBC

Yemen’s military has launched attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels, prompting a warning from the United Nations that the country faces a growing risk of renewed large-scale fighting. Meanwhile, Turkey’s parliament has taken an important step toward a proposed peace process with Kurdish militants. Yemen strikes Houthi positionsYemen’s military said it carried out attacks against Houthi positions in response to recent strikes by the rebels in central and eastern parts of the country. Col. Majed al-Nazili, a spokesperson for the Yemeni military, said the attacks targeted Houthi “sites and capabilities” along several front lines, without providing further details. He said the operation was intended to protect the military and defend its positions, marking a significant escalation since a 2022 truce largely brought the fighting to a halt. Yemen’s long-running civil war pits the Iran-backed Houthis against a Saudi-led coalition supporting the country’s internationally recognized government. UN envoy Hans Grundberg on Friday called on all sides to show restraint. “Yemen today faces a greater risk of renewed large-scale conflict than at any point since the UN-brokered truce of April 2022,” he said in a statement. Turkey’s Kurdish peace bill advancesIn Turkey, a parliamentary committee approved a draft law on Saturday aimed at supporting a peace process with Kurdish militants. The bill includes measures that could provide conditional relief from prison sentences for thousands of former members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The PKK announced last year that it would disarm and dissolve as part of an initiative aimed at ending its decades-long conflict with the Turkish state. The proposed law sets out procedures for the group’s disarmament and measures to help reintegrate some of its members. It would suspend certain prison sentences for people convicted of belonging to the PKK and delay legal proceedings against others. The measures would take effect after Turkey’s National Security Council confirms that the PKK has dissolved and surrendered its weapons. The bill is expected to be debated and voted on by the full parliament early next week. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s and has also spread into neighboring Iraq and Syria. Turkey and its Western allies classify the PKK as a terrorist organization.

UN experts on Wednesday called for urgent action to support the humanitarian response to the hosting of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, recognising the shared responsibility of the international community. “Statelessness affecting Rohingya refugees and the protracted situation of displacement contributes to serious risks of human trafficking with devastating consequences for victims,” said the experts who are in contact with the government of Bangladesh. They are Siobhan Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Gehad Madi,  Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstic (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. Recent reports indicate that two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days, following departure from Myanmar’s Rakhine State in late June. The boats were carrying mostly Rohingya passengers, reportedly including some who had travelled from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In 2025, more than 6,500 Rohingya refugees embarked on perilous maritime journeys, with an estimated 900 people losing their lives. An estimated 66 per cent of those embarking on those journeys are women and children. One in seven were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal - the highest mortality rate worldwide of any route for refugee and migrant sea journeys. Bangladesh hosts nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Limited access to safe and regular migration pathways, restricted access to formal education, and restrictions on employment, and livelihood opportunities are contributing to increased risks of trafficking in persons, particularly among children and young people. Refugee women and girls living in camps face heightened risks of trafficking and gender-based violence, with approximately one in four women and girls having experienced such violence. The experts stressed that the lack of opportunities is exploited by trafficking networks, including armed groups and criminal networks who target Rohingya children and young people, with deceptive offers of employment, education or marriage, and for recruitment and use. Reports indicate that Rohingya refugees rescued on the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, including children, may be detained for several days at police stations without adequate access to legal assistance, psychosocial support or medical care, despite having experienced severe trauma, including the death or disappearance of family members, according to a message UNB received from Geneva. “Humanitarian organisations provide assistance to persons rescued at sea but are reliant on timely referrals by law enforcement agencies, and are facing reduced capacity due to severe funding cuts,” the experts said. They called for effective measures to prevent human trafficking and ensure human rights-based, gender sensitive, and survivor-centred responses to trafficking in persons, including ending statelessness and ensuring access to employment, education, health care, freedom of movement and comprehensive protection services.

Home Affairs Minister Salahuddin Ahmed held a bilateral meeting with Pakistan's Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Syed Mohsin Naqvi at the United Nations Headquarters, where the two sides discussed strengthening cooperation in counter-narcotics and other issues of mutual interest. During the meeting, the minister underscored the importance of enhancing collaboration in counter-narcotics and broader law enforcement cooperation. He also raised the humanitarian difficulties faced by Bangladeshi-origin Pakistani nationals in obtaining National Identity Cards. The two ministers also discussed issues of mutual interest including the impact of the ongoing Middle East conflict on energy security, trade and regional stability. They also discussed issues of capacity building of respective institutions. During his meeting with Viet Nam's Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Long, Salahuddin Ahmed highlighted cooperation on migration management, consular services, enhancing trade and efforts to combat human trafficking and transnational crime. In his meeting with United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary A. DiCarlo, the Minister highlighted Bangladesh's priorities on peacekeeping and peacebuilding and underscored the need for sustained international support for the return of the Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar. DiCarlo commended Bangladesh's constructive role at the United Nations and its continued contribution to international peace and stability.

The UN food agency has warned that the Iran conflict is pushing millions more people into hunger, with rising food and fuel prices worsening conditions in already fragile countries. The World Food Programme (WFP) said new analysis shows an additional 2.5 million people in Somalia, 2.3 million in Afghanistan and 1.3 million in Sri Lanka are now struggling to afford basic food needs. The agency had earlier estimated that up to 45 million more people could fall into food insecurity by the end of June, adding to the 318 million already facing acute hunger worldwide. “We remain by that prognosis,” said Carl Skau, speaking to UN reporters. He said food insecurity is closely tied to energy prices, especially in poorer countries where families already spend most of their income on food. The WFP said in a report released Thursday that the Middle East crisis is creating wider global “spillover effects,” driving up fuel and food costs and disrupting trade routes. It warned that these pressures are likely to worsen in the coming months, even if the situation in the Middle East stabilises The agency also pointed to other hunger hotspots, including Sudan, Gaza, southern Lebanon, Yemen and Haiti. The Rome-based organisation said it has been forced to reduce food assistance in several countries due to funding shortages, and urged donors to increase support urgently, particularly for Somalia and Afghanistan, warning that the humanitarian consequences could be severe if aid does not increase.