GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations’ human rights
investigator on Myanmar urged Bangladesh on Tuesday to drop plans to start
repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine state this
month, warning they would face a “high risk of persecution”.
More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees crossed into
Bangladesh from western Myanmar, U.N. agencies say, after Rohingya insurgent
attacks on Myanmar security forces in August 2017 triggered a sweeping military
crackdown.
The two countries agreed on Oct. 30 to begin the returns
to Myanmar in mid-November. The U.N. refugee agency has already said that
conditions in Rakhine state were “not yet conducive for returns”.
Yanghee Lee, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in
Myanmar, said in a statement that she had received credible information from
the refugees in Cox’s Bazar that “they are in deep fear of their names being on
the list to be repatriated, causing distress and anguish”.
She had not seen any evidence of the government of
Myanmar creating an environment where the Rohingya can return to their place of
origin and live in safety with their rights guaranteed.
It has “failed to provide guarantees they would not
suffer the same persecution and horrific violence all over again,” Lee said.
The root causes of the crisis must first be dealt with,
including the right to citizenship and freedom of movement, she said.
Myanmar does not consider the Rohingya a native ethnic
group. Many in the Buddhist-majority country call the Rohingya “Bengalis”,
suggesting they belong in Bangladesh.