Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ambassador, welcome.
I had the opportunity earlier this month to visit Cox's Bazar and in fact meet with some of your folks. I had the benefit of looking at the work that you do on the ground. I want to first and foremost thank you and your team for the efforts, particularly in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. In that country there is a significant amount of poverty, yet over the past 30-odd years they've taken in over one million people, and most recently, as you've indicated, I believe 655,000 is the number.
I'll just pick up on that. You indicated in your remarks that there's some potential and desire for some individuals to go back to Rakhine State. The indication that I have, having spoken to a number of people, is that they're very apprehensive. There's definitely a pattern over the last number of decades of people coming and going to Bangladesh on a number of occasions. For example, an 87-year-old woman whom I met—she was there in 1978—had gone back and come back twice.
I think the challenge in a situation like the Rohingya is that it's not really up to Bangladesh and Burma to come to an agreement on resettlement. There needs to be some international assurance to secure their safety.
What lessons do you have, and what advice can you offer in terms of ensuring that those who return do have that safety parameter so that it's not just temporary and is much longer term?