'Bangladesh working to end Rohingya-locals conflict'

Bangladesh government is always ready to resolve the conflict between the Rohingya people staying in Bangladesh and the local population, said Shamsuddauja Nayan, additional commissioner of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC).

He said that one should be aware of the dissemination of wrong information and creation of rumours through social media regarding the Rohingya refugee camps.

He said this at a workshop on peace mediation and promotion in the Ukhia-Teknaf area organised by national NGO FIVDB with the grant and technical support of GIZ SHADE Project on behalf of the international aid agency BMZ on Wednesday morning in a conference room of a hotel in the city with the participation of district-level stakeholders.

At the workshop, Shamsuddauja also said that everyone should work together to resolve the conflict between the Rohingyas and local residents. Mediation can play an important role in this regard. Besides, presenting accurate information will help increase public awareness.

Speakers at the workshop highlighted that GIZ and FIVDB are implementing a special project with the financial support from the German government for the socioeconomic development and support from the host community of Cox's Bazar and the Rohingya community residing in different camps in Ukhia-Teknaf to resolve intra-and inter-community conflicts.

The workshop mentioned that the mediator system would play an important role in maintaining peace and order between the Rohingya community living in Ukhia-Teknaf and the local residents in resolving the conflicts. In addition, due to the mediation system, local residents are getting quick solutions to their problems rather than waiting to get a solution through traditional legal systems of the country.

In that case, 320 mediators have been trained under this project to create an environment for conflict resolution in a quick but transparent way. Of these, 50 percent are men and 50 percent are women. And 50 percent from the host community and 50 percent from the Rohingya community are working under this project.

Representatives from various local and foreign NGOs, INGOs, including UNHCR, IOM, were present at the event.

They expressed their views, wishing for the development and progress of the project.

Senior Assistant Judge and District Legal Aid Officer Shazzatun Nessa Lipi, Senior Assistant Secretary and Camp In-charge of camp 25 & 27 Khanzada Shahriar Bin Mannan, Senior Assistant Secretary and Assistant Camp In-charge Mostaq Ahmed, Assistant Camp In-charge Shafiqul Bari, GIZ SHADE Project's Head of Programs Alexander Betz, Conflict and Crisis Adviser Zahid Hasan, FIVDB Executive Director Bazle Mostafa Razee, and Mohiuddin Sardar also spoke at the workshop.

Mobasserul Islam, Law Specialist of SHADE project of GIZ and Hasan Ahamed Chowdhury- coordinator of FIVDB, presented the activities of the programmes and answered different questions.

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