MYANMAR will allow
the return of Rohingya Muslims to their homes, President Rodrigo Duterte’s
spokesman said on Monday.
“Asean expressed
concern for the Rohingya people. Myanmar responded by saying that the
repatriation of the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) will begin in three
weeks after Myanmar signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Bangladesh,” said
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque in a press briefing at the 31st Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit.
Violence against the
Rohingyas erupted when militants killed at least 30 police troops in August.
Since then, around
500,000 Rohingyas fled Rakhine State to go to Bangladesh due to the military’s
“clearing operations” that included burning their homes, committing rape and
killing civilians.
“The Kofi Annan
report is being addressed, and humanitarian assistance [for the Rohingyas]is
welcomed,” Roque said.
Roque was referring
to a report released by the Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by former UN Chief
Kofi Annan, which called on the Myanmar government to stop the violence in the
Rakhine State.
Annan was appointed
to the job by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San
Suu Kyi, who drew flak worldwide for her muted response to the violence being
committed by Myanmar’s state forces against the Rohingyas.
The Annan report,
however, did not identify the victims as Rohingya but as a Muslim community in
Rakhine “which has become particularly vulnerable to human rights violations
due to protracted statelessness and profound discrimination.”
There are at least
one million Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and majority of them are living at the
Rakhine state.
United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in September that the
violence suffered by the Rohingyas under Myanmar’s state forces was a textbook
example of ethnic cleansing.
The Myanmar
government does not grant citizenship to the Rohingyas.
