Bangladesh wants Myanmar to repatriate the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who have fled genocide, and a top Bangladeshi official wants international financial sanctions to back it up.Much of the Muslim-majority ethnic group has fled to Bangladesh after Myanmar’s latest brutal crackdown in 2017, which included mass killings, sexual assaults and arson. The military has justified its crackdown, which involved mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson, as a way of eradicating Rohingya insurgents.Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen called Wednesday for the international community to place concerted financial pressure on Myanmar in an interview with VOA Bangla. More than 900,000 Rohingya live in camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, straining local facilities and services. FILE – A young Rohingya refugee stands in her house which has been destroyed by Cyclone Mora at Balukhali Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has begun calling for repatriation, telling a French ambassador Wednesday, “How long will we bear the burden? The sooner the FILE – Rohingya refugees collect drinking water at the Shalbagan refugee camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh, March 5, 2019.China and Russia, two of Myanmar’s more powerful allies, also could hold some sway, Momen suggested.Both countries, however, have boycotted U.N. talks on the Rohingya crisis. In 2018, China advocated slashing the proposed budget for addressing the refugee crisis, reducing by half the original number of nearly $30 million. China’s proposal didn’t go through, but the country continues resisting talk of sanctioning Myanmar for its treatment of Rohingya people.Could that change? Bangladesh asked China to encourage Myanmar’s repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, said Momen, and China “assured us they’ll do it.”The Rohingya have faced decades of systemic violence and discrimination in Myanmar, which sees the group as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. A 1982 citizenship law didn’t include them as one of 135 recognized indigenous groups, effectively rendering the population of 1.1 million Rohingya stateless — one of the largest such communities in the world.In addition to periodic violent ethnic cleansing campaigns, Myanmar’s government has denied the Rohingya access to everyday services such as education, healthcare and freedom of movement.  
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