Rohingya delegation visits Myanmar amid latest repatriation plans | Humanitarian Crises News

Rohingya refugees, who have spent nearly six years in overcrowded and run-down camps in Bangladesh, are suspicious and skeptical of the program.

A delegation of Rohingya refugees has arrived in Myanmar to tour new facilities being built to revive a long-stalled plan to repatriate the persecuted minority to their homeland.

Bangladesh officials said on Friday that 20 Rohingya and seven officials, including a border guard, visited two model villages being built for the pilot repatriation project.

“We disembarked from the Teknaf jetty with 20 Rohingya members, including three women,” Bangladesh Deputy Commissioner for Refugees Mohammed Khalid Hossain told AFP.

“You will see the different facilities that have been created for repatriation to Myanmar,” he said as their boat left the river port bound for the neighboring Maungdaw commune in Rakhine state, Myanmar.

Bangladesh is home to about a million Rohingya, most of whom fled a military crackdown in 2017 in neighboring Myanmar, which is now the subject of a UN genocide probe.

Both countries signed an agreement to repatriate the refugees later in the year, but little progress has been made since then and the UN has repeatedly warned that conditions for their repatriation are not adequate.

Bangladesh High Commissioner for Refugees Mizanur Rahman told AFP the new facilities include a market, a hospital and a reception center for returning refugees. Officials have told AFP they expect repatriations to begin later this month, ahead of the annual monsoon season.

Concerns about the Rohingya

Rohingya refugees, who have been living in overcrowded and run-down camps in Bangladesh for nearly six years, have consistently been suspicious and skeptical of the program since it became public in March.

Many fear that none of their concerns about security or the recognition of their right to citizenship in the Southeast Asian country have been answered.

“Why are we being sent to Myanmar without citizenship?” A refugee, who said he was also part of Friday’s delegation, told AFP earlier this week on condition of anonymity.

The Rohingya are widely viewed in Myanmar as invaders from Bangladesh, although roots in the country date back centuries.

The repatriation plan, agreed in 2017, has made no significant progress in the years since, partly due to concerns that the Rohingya would not be safe if they returned.

Myanmar’s military had until recently shown little inclination to take back Rohingya, who have been denied citizenship and mistreated for years.

Military chief and ruler Min Aung Hlaing has dismissed Rohingya identity as “imaginary” and was also the chief of the armed forces during the 2017 crackdown.

“Must be voluntary”

The UN refugee agency said it was aware of the trip, which took place “under a bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar”.

“UNHCR is not involved in organizing this visit. However, we reaffirm that every refugee has the inalienable right to return to their homeland,” agency spokeswoman Regina De La Portilla told AFP.

“The return of refugees must be voluntary, safe and dignified,” she added. “No refugee should be forced to do this.”

The International Court of Justice is reviewing allegations of rape, murder and arson against entire Rohingya villages by Myanmar’s security forces during the 2017 violence.

In a 2018 report, the United Nations called on Army Chief Hlaing and other generals to answer charges of genocide.