Rohingyas want guarantee of safety

Rohingya refugees living in refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar said they would like to go back home if their citizenship was restored, they were given the freedom of movement, and their homes and croplands were reinstated by the Myanmar government. They also said that a congenial atmosphere for their safe and voluntary repatriation with dignity and honour had not been created yet. They maintained that the attitude of the Myanmar government and its security forces towards them had not changed and that Rohingyas were still crossing into Bangladesh to save their lives.

They said they did not want to return to camps built for them by the Myanmar government. They demanded the involvement of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) and their own representatives in their voluntarily repatriation.

The refugees alleged that Myanmar had earlier reneged on their commitment to resettling the Rohingyas who had returned to Myanmar from Bangladesh.

Experts on refugee affairs also said that repatriation would not be sustainable unless the safety of those returning was guaranteed in Rakhine state.

“Where will the people go back to? All the homes of the Rohingya people have been burnt and croplands destroyed. Their return to Myanmar will expose them to a new risk. They could come under attack anytime. Then, they will return to Bangladesh again,” said Ashraful Azad, acting head of the international relations department of Chittagong University.

“The people who were brought at Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps in 2012 following a communal riot are yet to return to their homes. It would be risky for Rohingya refugees to return to IDP camps from Bangladesh. In the IDP shelters, they would be virtually captives. Once they enter those camps, they will never be able to return to their homes,” he added.

A meeting of the Bangladesh-Myanmar Joint Working Group on Tuesday agreed that the process of repatriation would be completed within two years from the date of commencement.

The JWG was formed following an agreement signed on November 23, 2017 between Bangladesh and Myanmar to facilitate the repatriation of thousands of Rohingyas who fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

As per the JWG, Myanmar has agreed to repatriate about 1,500 refugees every day, and within the next two years the entire refugee population would be able to return to Myanmar.

Abul Kalam, 30, who fled from Maungdaw of Rakhine state and now lives in Kutupalong, told The Independent on Wednesday: “I’m ready to return home. The government (of Myanmar) must recognise our identity as Rohingyas. They have to return our looted croplands and homes. We want to return home directly from Bangladesh. However, we’ll not go back if the government plans to keep us in IDP camps.”

Md Abdul Hasan, 40, who fled from Maungdaw, held similar views. “We’ll return only if we’re recognised as Myanmar citizens. Until we get our citizenship, we won’t move from the refugee camps in Bangladesh. If we return to camps built by the Myanmar government, they will hold us captives in those camps,” he said.

Twenty-one Rohingya organisations based in different countries in a joint statement yesterday expressed their serious concern over the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. They wondered how the terrified and traumatised refugees were to be repatriated to Arakan/Rakhine state, where they experienced and witnessed the genocidal brutality of the Myanmar troops, Rakhine extremists, and other vigilantes.

“There is no change in the attitude of the Myanmar government and its military towards Rohingyas. They still consider Rohingyas to be ‘Bengali interlopers’. Rohingyas continue to enter Bangladesh due to the continuing violence and brutality against them in Rakhine state,” said the joint statement issued by 21 organisations, including the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), Canadian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark and Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan.

“The refugees are homesick, but they are unwilling to return as a congenial atmosphere has not been created yet for safe and voluntary repatriation with dignity and honour. The refugees should be settled in their homes. It would be worst if they are moved from camps in Bangladesh to dislodgement sites in Myanmar. It is dangerous that the regime has already claimed state-ownership of Rohingyas’ land within the affected region of northern Arakan/Rakhine state. Before they return to Myanmar, the refugees need guarantee that they would not harmed in any way and be allowed to live  peacefully as equals with all other people in Myanmar,” added the statement.

The organisations have placed their 12-point demands that include the involvement of the UNHCR and Rohingya representatives in all rehabilitation processes, the recognition of the Rohingya identity, entirely voluntary repatriation, rehabilitation in original homes and property and not in displacement sites, full compensation under the supervision of the UN peace-keeping force.

“Demilitarised UN safe zones shall be created in Northern Rakhine State, as an interim measure, in order to guarantee the security of life, property and dignity of the persecuted people, as well as to ensure confidence, faith and understanding in the minds of the heavily terrified and traumatised refugees,” their statement said.

“The Myanmar government must restore their full Myanmar citizenship ensuring rights and freedom—security of life, property, honour, dignity, freedom of religion, movement, education, marriage, employment etc,” added the statement.

They also demanded an amendment to the Myanmar Citizenship Law of 1982.

“The government has given shelter to the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds. We don’t’ want them to face another problem through repatriation. In this process of repatriation, the UN peacekeeping force should be involved,” according to the statement.

Caroline Gluck, a spokesperson of the UNHCR in Cox’s Bazar, said both Bangladesh and Myanmar did not accept their offer for voluntary and sustainable repatriation of refugees to their places of origin and to address the underlying root causes of the crisis.

According the report of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM),  total of 670,000 Rohingyas have crossed over to Bangladesh since August 25 last year. In the meantime, the government has completed the biometric registration of 10 lakh refugees in Cox’s Bazar.