Hasina seeks EU support for Rohingya return to Myanmar

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought continued support of the European Union (EU) to ensure safe, dignified, and sustainable return of the displaced Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, a media report said on Friday.

"The Bangladesh Prime Minister thanked the EU members, including Italy, for their support to the cause of the Rohingya," The Daily Star newspaper quoted a joint statement issued on Thursday after talks between Hasina and her Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in Rome, as saying.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Hasina's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said both sides welcomed the January 23 decision of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Rohingya crisis.

Karim said that Conte appreciated Bangladesh's management of the Rohingya crisis, adding that he encouraged Hasina to continue with the policy of hospitality.

In its January ruling, the ICJ directed Myanmar to prevent the alleged genocide against the Muslim minority community.

The court said Myanmar must "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts" described by the convention.

Nearly 738,000 Rohingya refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh since Aug. 25, 2017, following a wave of persecution and violence in Myanmar that the UN has described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide.

Myanmar does not use the Rohingya term and also doesn't recognize them as its citizens, arguing that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.