Security Cncerns Grow Over Rohingya Repatriation Deal: In Close Proximity To The 'Zero Line

02 February 2018

EsinIslam And Agencies

Hundreds of Rohingya refugees staged protests in Bangladesh demanding citizenship and guarantees of security before they return to their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar

Before the start of repatriation process for Rohingya refugees back to Rakhine state expected to begin next week, hundreds of Rohingya protested Friday, demanding citizenship and guarantees of security.

'We want safe zones in Arakan [Rakhine] before repatriation,' Mohibullah, a refugee and former teacher told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by phone from Cox's Bazar, where the camps are located.

'We want a U.N. peacekeeping force in Arakan. We want fundamental rights and citizenship. We do not want repatriation without life guarantees,' Mohibullah said.

The protest came ahead of a visit by U.N. special rapporteur Yanghee Lee to the camps in southeastern Bangladesh where around 1 million of the Muslim minority are now living.

Rohingya leaders in a Bangladesh refugee camp have drawn up a list of demands they want Myanmar to meet before authorities begin sending back hundreds of thousands in the repatriation process, according to Reuters.

The petition is the latest indication of the challenges ahead for Bangladesh and Myanmar as they try to engineer the return of refugees who fear continued military operations in Rakhine State and are dismayed about the prospect of a prolonged stay in temporary camps in Myanmar when they go back.

A half-dozen Rohingya elders, saying they represented 40 villages from Rakhine, showed the list of demands to a Reuters reporter at the Kutupalong refugee camp, where most of the 655,500 Rohingya refugees are staying.

The petition, handwritten in Burmese, said none of the Rohingya would return to mainly Buddhist Myanmar unless the demands were met.

The petition, which has still to be finalized, demanded the Myanmar government publicly announce it is giving Rohingya long-denied citizenship and inclusion on a list of the country's recognized ethnic groups. It asks that land once occupied by the refugees be returned to them and their homes, mosques and schools rebuilt.

It wants the military held accountable for alleged killings, looting and rape, and the release of 'innocent Rohingya' picked up in counter-insurgency operations from prison.

It also wants Myanmar to stop listing people with their photographs as terrorists in state media and on government Facebook pages.

Bangladesh has reached an agreement with Myanmar to send back the around 750,000 refugees who have arrived since October 2016 over the next two years, a process set to begin as early as next week.

But many Rohingya living in the crowded, unsanitary camps have said they do not want to return to Rakhine after fleeing atrocities including murder, rape and arson attacks on their homes. Rights groups and the U.N. say any repatriation must be voluntary.

They have also expressed concerns about conditions in Myanmar, where many Rohingya settlements have been burned to the ground by soldiers and Buddhist mobs.

A Bangladesh official said around 6,500 Rohingya currently living in no man's land between the two countries would be among the first to be repatriated. The repatriation deal does not cover the estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who were living in Bangladesh prior to October 2016, driven out by previous rounds of communal violence and military operations.

Bangladesh, Myanmar to implement Rohingya repatriation deal within 2 years

Bangladesh has agreed to complete the process of returning Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar within two years after repatriation begins, the south Asian nation said Tuesday.

The agreement, finalized in Myanmar's capital this week, says that the process would be 'completed preferably within 2 (two) years from the commencement of repatriation,' a statement from the Bangladesh foreign ministry said.

The ministry did not say, however, when the process would begin. But it added the return effort envisages 'considering the family as a unit,' with Myanmar to provide temporary shelter for those returning before rebuilding houses for them.

According to the deal, Bangladesh will 'establish five transit camps from which returnees would be received initially in two reception centers on Myanmar side.'

Myanmar will prioritize resettling people living in close proximity to the 'zero line.'

The international community and rights groups have stressed that the Myanmar government must guarantee the 'safe and voluntary' return of the refugees, and urged that international organizations be allowed to participate. However, the U.N. refugee agency said yesterday that it has not been invited to take part or given full access to the areas where refugees are to return.

The U.N. called yesterday for Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh to be informed about conditions in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state before they are allowed to return voluntarily and in safety.

'Major challenges have to be overcome,' Andrej Mahecic, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a Geneva news briefing. 'These include ensuring they are told about the situation in their areas of origin [...] and are consulted on their wishes, that their safety is ensured,' as reported by Reuters.

Left out of the talks were the fears and concerns of the refugees themselves, 'as if they are an inert mass of people who will go where and when they are told,' Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters in an email.

'Where are considerations for protection of the Rohingya from Myanmar security forces who months ago were raping and killing them? How come the discussions ignore the deprivation of rights of people held in indefinite detention, which is what these so-called 'temporary' accommodations may become?' Robertson asked.

Myanmar agreed to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh in November, but the U.N. and rights group fear for their safety in the country, where anti-Muslim sentiment is surging.

More than 650,000 Rohingyas were forced to flee the Buddhist country since Aug. 25 due to 'clearance operations' by the army.

The U.N. the military's actions as 'ethnic cleansing,' and rights groups have accused security forces of atrocities, including mass rape, arson and killings. The U.N. rights chief said Myanmar army could commit acts of genocide.

Described by the U.N. as the most persecuted minority, Rohingyas have been the target of communal violence and vicious anti-Muslim sentiment in mainly Buddhist Myanmar for years. They have also been systematically oppressed by the government, which stripped the minority of citizenship and severely restricts their movement, as well as their access to basic services. Tensions erupted into bouts of bloodshed in 2012 that pushed more than 100,000 Rohingya into grim displacement camps. Despite the squalid conditions in the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, many of the refugees say they are reluctant to return to Myanmar unless they are granted full citizenship. 

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