Bangladesh’s Minister of Foreign Affairs AK Abdul Momen says his country requires “effective and proactive” support from the international community to address the Rohingya crisis as well as climate-related displacement, an important reminder to the international community that it bears responsibility for protecting migrants wherever they may reside. 

On climate migration, Momen said such global cooperation is necessary to address the reality that sees a number of Bangladeshis displaced due to climate change and weather events each year, as we have written about before.

The comments were made recently during the 13th Global Forum of Migration and Development (GFMD), hosted by the United Arab Emirates. Momen also reiterated the importance of using a rights-based approach to tackle migration challenges, which he said requires cooperation at all levels and must go beyond short-term crisis response measures. 

In an endorsement of the GFMD, Momen argued that while the forum is non-binding, it has the potential to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, because of how closely linked migration is to many of the issues addressed in the goals. Indeed, sustainable communities and economic growth that provides ‘decent work’ are unlikely to be realized without substantive action on migration challenges. 

Momen recently expressed optimism that the incoming Biden administration will play a positive role in combating combatting climate change and ensuring human rights are protected across the globe. 

The Minister’s focus on displacement and human rights is in line with the country’s attempt to raise awareness of what it sees as urgent issues related to climate change, to which Bangladesh, like other developing countries, has contributed very little.

As one of the founding members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and its present Chair, and current member of the UN Human Rights Council, Bangladesh has been asserting a welcome call for a more human rights-based approach to raise awareness of the many linkages between the impacts of climate change on human rights, both within its country and across the heavily-impacted global south. 

In a recent call with John Kerry, US President Joe Biden’s newly appointed Special Envoy on Climate Change, Momen took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of taking bold action on climate. In particular, he briefed Kerry on the country’s mitigation and adaptation measures taken to strengthen resilience, and expressed hope that the US would work with the CVF going forward. 

As Bangladesh continues to grapple with climate displacement and the ongoing Rohingya crisis, it has made it clear that powerful international actors must do much more to address climate change, protect the rights of migrants, and, in doing so, ensure that the burden of climate change is borne more equitably. (The Independent Bangladesh, The Daily Star, United News of Bangladesh)