Myanmar announces readmission of 1,000 Rohingya refugees
YANGON/GENEVA - Myanmar has announced the readmission of around a thousand Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. A spokesman for the Myanmar military junta announced on Wednesday that the resettlement of the first group of displaced persons is to begin in a pilot project in mid-April.
A delegation of 17 Myanmar officials met with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh last week after China had mediated to consider taking them back. So far, a repatriation agreement had not been reached due to concerns about the security of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
Bangladesh hopes that repatriations can start soon, according to its refugee commissioner Mizanur Rahman. Rohingya, who spoke to the Myanmar delegation last week, have expressed doubts about their safety and their right to citizenship if they return to Myanmar, according to AFP.
Persecuted, discriminated against, forcibly expelled
The Rohingya Muslim minority is persecuted and discriminated against in Myanmar. In 2015, the Southeast Asian country revoked the citizenship of members of the Muslim minority, and in 2017 the military used violence against the Rohingya. Since then, around a million members of the stateless Muslim minority have been living in overcrowded refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
According to several human rights organizations, Myanmar has no interest in taking back Rohingya. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Myanmar does not currently have the necessary conditions for a "sustainable return" of Rohingya refugees.
The actions of the soldiers in Myanmar five years ago are currently the subject of a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which Myanmar is accused of genocide. Last week, representatives of a Rohingya movement accused Myanmar of only organizing a "symbolic" return to avoid being condemned by the ICJ. (APA, AFP, 03/22/2023)
