Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, who heads the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Merhrom), said that Ismail’s speech at the United Nations general assembly (UNGA) highlighted the need for political will to resolve the root cause of the Rohingya’s plight.

“Merhrom reiterates the call made by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to the member states of the Refugee Convention (1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees) to increase the resettlement quota for Rohingya refugees,” Zafar said in a statement.

“We hope Malaysia will continue to negotiate with the resettlement countries for our resettlement as we have no other durable solution.”

Speaking at the UNGA on Friday, Ismail said that despite Malaysia not being a signatory to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, the country has accepted nearly 200,000 Rohingya refugees on humanitarian grounds.

In his speech, Ismail said it was crucial to look into the root cause of the Rohingya crisis, stating that their problems would not be resolved as long as the crisis in Myanmar continues.

According to the UN, over a million Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Myanmar in successive waves of displacement since the early 1990s, with a large majority of them housed in vast refugee camps in Bangladesh.

The UN said that following the military coup in February 2021, the humanitarian, human rights and security situation in Myanmar has rapidly deteriorated – making conditions even less conducive to refugees’ return.