United Nations officials have blasted a repatriation deal
struck between the governments in Bangladesh and Myanmar over the return of
Rohingya Muslim refugees, saying that conditions in the northwestern state of
Rakhine are “not yet conducive” for their returns.
The two sides agreed in January to complete a voluntary
repatriation of the refugees over a two-year period. The repatriation, however,
was delayed due to a lack of preparation as well as protests staged by Rohingya
refugees against the plan to send them back to Myanmar while conditions were
not safe for their return.
Bangladesh and Myanmar government officials announced
this week they had struck a “very concrete” repatriation deal for the return of
the 720,000 Rohingya refugees who fled a brutal state-sponsored military
crackdown in August 2017 and crossed into Bangladesh, where they live in
overcrowded camps with limited access to food, medicine and education.
The repatriation would begin with 2,000 returnees in
“mid-November.”
In reaction to the announcement, Stephane Dujarric, a
spokesman for the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, however, said the
bilateral agreement had taken the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) by
surprise.
“To be clear… UNHCR, which is in lead on the issues of
refugees, was not consulted on this matter,” Dujarric said at a Wednesday daily
press briefing given by the secretary general’s office.
“For UNHCR, the conditions in Rakhine state are not yet
conducive for a return to Myanmar,” Dujarric noted. “And, at the same time,
we’re seeing Rohingya refugees continue to arrive from Rakhine state into
[Bangladesh], which should give you an indication of the situation on the
ground.”
The United Nations refugee agency also said it would not
assist with such refugee returns because the Rakhine state was “unsafe” for the
persecuted Muslim minority group.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been
living for more than a year in cramped refugee camps in Cox's Bazar district in
southeastern Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Rakhine state at the hands of
the Myanmar military.
WFP voices 'extreme concerns' about Rohingya
return
World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David
Beasley said on Wednesday that there were "extreme concerns" about
the return of Rohingya Muslims from their camps in Cox's Bazar to Rakhine state
in Myanmar.
Myo Nyunt, spokesperson for the National League for
Democracy, said that pro-military protests could fuel divisions between the
military and the government because the military has become “a part of the
government” since 2010.
“I think it would be more appropriate to have rallies
just supporting the government,” he said.
Beasley had a day earlier visited the Kutupalong camps
and spoken to families about the prospect of returning to their homes in
Rakhine.
"But I can say very clearly, from the people that
I've talked to inside the camps, I think many do want to go back when it's safe
-- will that day ever come? I don't know. I know if I were in their shoes, I'd
have some extreme concerns about going back and we heard that from people all over
the camp," he said.
"There are some people who don't want to go back,
under any circumstances. These are the decisions that each individual will have
to make, based on the information that is available," Beasley added.
Last year, extremist Buddhist monks rushed to help
Myanmar’s military, when it intensified its crackdown campaign against Rohingya
Muslims in Rakhine State.
The campaign – which the UN described as the textbook
example of ethnic cleansing campaign – has seen mass killings, torture, and
gang rape of Rohingya Muslim as well as arson attacks against their homes and
farms in Rakhine.
Rohingya trace their presence in Rakhine back centuries,
but most people Buddhist- majority Myanmar see them as unwanted immigrants from
Bangladesh, with the state denying the Muslims citizenship.
Source: Press TV