From its very formation, Bangladesh has looked to the UN as the principal forum for resolving disputes and forging harmony amongst the international family of nations. It has never veered from this commitment. The Mujibnagar government sent a special emissary to join the 26th session of the UN General Assembly in September 1971, and in October of that monumental year in the country's history, a Bangladeshi representative spoke at the UN Plaza and declared that the "point of no return" had been reached in the War of Liberation. The various UN agencies meanwhile, busied themselves in tackling the enormous humanitarian crisis that had broken out, setting up a relief operation that they took over completely by November, citing mismanagement on the part of the civil administration of East Pakistan.

Although it would eventually have to wait till 1974 to gain full membership, clearly the seeds were sown very early on for a fruitful and committed partnership. The record in the years since, bears this out. From Bangladesh's much-lauded contributions to UN peacekeeping missions around the world to the UN's adoption of February 21 as International Mother Language Day to the various UN agencies commendable development works in the country, as well as the country's faithful reliance on UN-based arbitration bodies and its repeated elections to the UN Human Rights Council, in many ways the soul of the UN, we can see ample evidence for what can only be described as a happy relationship.

Still it must be said, that today as Bangladesh contemplates its ties to the UN, one issue tends to stand out and threatens to undermine the good bits, due to its immediacy, its visibility, its very direct impact, and above all its sheer unacceptability. That happens to be the issue of the Rohingya, long-acknowledged as the world's most persecuted minority, 1.1 million of whom are currently residing in crowded, squalid refugee camps in the southernmost district of Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar, from where they fled. Bangladeshis have sheltered them with open minds. But sooner or later they must question the point of merely sheltering without offering a discernible way back for such a vulnerable population to rebuild their lives in the image of the dreams and ambitions they once nurtured, where they nurtured them.

While the UN system has been Bangladesh's principal partner in this endeavour, its highest decision making bodies such as the Security Council are the forums we look to, to take the lead in erasing this blot on humanity. Unfortunately, geopolitics has tended to rule the roost there. And that has undermined the UN itself. An internal report commissioned by the Secretary General earlier this year has highlighted various UN failures that let down the Rohingya as they faced persecution with genocidal intent. It will find no more willing partner than Bangladesh, if it now sets itself to set the record straight. All that separates us is intent.