Persecuted Rohingya
reiterate they will not return without getting full citizenship and ethnic
rights
With Myanmar
officials considering calling Rohingya “foreign citizen,” the persecuted people
are demanding full citizenship, ethnic rights, and international protection
before repatriation.
Myint Thu, Myanmar’s
foreign affairs permanent secretary, said at a meeting with Rohingya refugees
in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh that Myanmar’s government will consider the Rohingya
“foreign nationals,” local daily The Daily Star reported on Monday.
Clarifying Myanmar’s
stance on Rohingya repartition, Myint Thu said there are three types of citizenship
in the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Act, and whoever has been living in Myanmar for
three generations would be entitled to get “naturalized citizenship.”
Even if the Rohingya
are not direct Myanmar citizens, they will be allowed to live legally in Myanmar
as foreign citizens according to clause three of the citizenship act, the
report added.
But a Rohingya
delegation meeting with Myanmar officials voiced opposition to the proposal.
Rohingya delegation
leader Mohibullah said the Myanmar delegation had come up with the same old
proposals and not a single Rohingya would return to Myanmar if they are not
guaranteed citizenship.
Nay San Lwin,
campaign coordinator of rights group Free Rohingya Coalition, described to
Anadolu Agency Myanmar’s stance on citizenship and their demands before
repatriation.
There used to be two
types of identity cards: one for citizens, and another for foreigners. Until
1982, Rohingya held the former, he said.
“The offer made by
Myanmar's Foreign Secretary U Myint Thu is completely unacceptable. Rohingya
will never compromise to accept naturalized citizenship. Rohingya people are an
indigenous ethnic group belonging to [Myanmar’s] Arakan state. Making us
foreigners by offering naturalized citizenship means erasing our existence and
history,” he added.
“Myanmar must stop
making up stories,” he said. “What we demand is full citizenship, ethnic
rights, and international protection.”
Mohammad Abul Kalam,
Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Anadolu Agency that
Rohingya representatives made detailed demands to Myanmar officials to
facilitate the repatriation process.
“We, from our side,
are providing all possible support to make repatriation happen. We [Bangladesh]
want the repatriation to start, and it’s important from all the parties and
stockholders included in the Rohingya crisis,” he explained.
Bangladesh’s Foreign
Ministry will discuss any issues of citizenship of displaced Rohingya refugees
with Myanmar if necessary, he added.
Khin Maung, a
Rohingya youth who is residing in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar with his
8-member family, told Anadolu Agency on Monday they will only return to Myanmar
after getting full citizenship and assurance including from Myanmar and
international community.
“They [Myanmar
regime] burned our house, took our land, killed us and raped our women and
daughters. And now they deny providing us with citizenship rights prior to the
repatriation. How can we return to the lands where we are persecuted without
having proper protection?” he said.
Also read “Myanmar delegation’s meeting with
Rohingya refugees and reactions of Rohingyas”: https://lnkd.in/gUqa-jz
Protesting Myint
Thu’s statement, Maung added: “We don’t have faith on our government [Myanmar],
and we will never return as neutralized citizens there in Rakhine state.”
In the meantime,
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Monday said the Rohingya
citizenship issue is an internal affair of Myanmar.
“Our focus is on
their (Rohingya) dignified and safe return …. We don’t have any issue regarding
their citizenship there,” Bangladesh state-run news agency quoted him as
saying.
A
persecuted people
The Rohingya,
described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened
fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
According to Amnesty
International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children,
have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a
crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number
of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
Since Aug. 25, 2017,
nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces,
according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000
Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten,
said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold
Experience."
Some 18,000 Rohingya
women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000
Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.