Press TV
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the
voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees by 2020, followed up by an
agreement with the UN last month.
An award-winning lawyer says the stateless Rohingya
Muslims must be recognized as citizens of Myanmar so that they can safely stay
in the country instead of fleeing abroad.
Kyaw Hla Aung, who has worked to promote the rights of
the persecuted minority, demanded in an interview on Sunday that the Rohingya
be given identity documents.
"We belong on this land. This government is denying
our citizenship," Aung said in a phone interview with Reuters from
Armenia, where the award ceremony was held.
"We are citizens of Myanmar, so why have we become
stateless?" he asked.
"We cannot keep going from our land to other
countries," said Aung, who spent 12 years in prison due to his work.
The United Nations refugee agency says the Rohingya are
the biggest minority among an estimated 10 million people who are stateless.
There are four million Rohingya around the world, the
majority living outside their ancestral land. More than 700,000 members of the
minority have fled the state-sponsored violence to Bangladesh over the past
nine months.
Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh and experts say a
recent deal between Myanmar and the United Nations falls short of guaranteeing
the Muslims’ safe return to Myanmar,
‘UN deal with Myanmar could return Rohingya
Muslims to killing fields’ https://lnkd.in/gpWeuvh
