Rushanara Ali

Rushanara Ali MP commemorates International Mother Language Day.  Continue reading

On Thursday 23 January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nation’s highest court, ordered the Myanmar government to prevent genocidal violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority, and preserve all evidence of past genocidal acts.  The case, filed by The Gambia, saw the 17 judges unanimously rule that Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar government must respect the requirements of the United Nation’s 1948 genocide convention.    Continue reading

Rushanara Ali MP and Anne Main MP have today called on the Government of Bangladesh to rethink proposals for the relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char Island. The two MP’s jointly chair the cross-party parliamentary group on the rights of the Rohingya. In August 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya were forced to relocate to refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh, after fleeing a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar military, which UN investigators declared was conducted with “genocidal intent”. Currently there are over 1 million people based in the over-crowded makeshift camps, who continue to live with extremely limited access to food, healthcare and shelter. The Bangladesh Government has considered the relocation of some Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island as a solution to this humanitarian crisis. They hope this will ease overcrowding too. Previously, they had been unable to convince any refugees to go to the island. The plans have been publicly criticised by a number of humanitarian organisations who have expressed their concern as the silt island is susceptible to cyclones and flooding and is only accessible by boat. The UN has so far been denied the opportunity to conduct a technical and protection assessment of the island. On 20 October, the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Mohammad Abul Kalam, declared that Bangladesh will start the relocation process at the beginning of November 2019. This follows reports that Government officials have started compiling the lists of refugees who are willing to move, and that several thousand have already confirmed their acceptance. Continue reading

On Tuesday 10 September the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rights of Rohingya launched its new report - report “A New Shape of Catastrophe”: Two years on from the 2017 Rohingya Crisis. Continue reading

Continue reading

Rushanara Ali MP has supported a campaign calling for funding to continue the National School Breakfast programme. Rushanara, along with 35 MPs from across the House of Commons wrote to the Minister for Children and Families, Nadhim Zahawi, highlighting the positive impact of the National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) and urged the minister for continued funding, to ensure this vital programme can continue the fantastic work it does. The National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP), delivered by the charities Family Action and Magic Breakfast,  reaches over 1,775 schools in disadvantaged areas across England and provides free and nutritious breakfasts to an estimated 280,000 children every school day, 115 000 of whom are eligible for Pupil Premium funding. In Bethnal Green and Bow, the NSBP provides free school breakfasts across six different schools.   Continue reading