Bangladesh, Myanmar agree to finish Rohingya return in 2 yrs
18 January, 2018
Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed on Tuesday to complete within two years the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled an army crackdown last year in Myanmar.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), responding to the plan, said they were concerned about forcibly repatriating over 650,000 Rohingya who fled to neighboring Bangladesh after a conflict erupted in western Rakhine state in August.
Statements from the Myanmar and Bangladesh foreign ministries said Bangladesh would set up five transit camps on its side of the border. Those camps would send Rohingyas to two reception centers in Myanmar. The repatriation process would start next Tuesday, the statements said.
Myanmar said it would build a transit camp that can house 30,000 returnees.
The Bangladesh statement said: “Myanmar has reiterated its commitment to stop [the] outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh.”
Guterres said the UNHCR had not been involved directly in the agreement. “It will be very important to have UNHCR fully involved in the operation to guarantee that the operations abide by international standards,” he said.
“A huge effort of reconciliation is needed to allow it to take place properly,” Guterres told reporters. “The worst would be to move these people from camps in Bangladesh to camps in Myanmar, keeping an artificial situation for a long time and not allowing for them to regain their normal lives.”
Myanmar stressed the need for both sides to take preventive measures against possible Rohingya attacks and said it gave Dhaka a list with the names of 1,000 alleged militants.
The crisis erupted after Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts on Aug. 25 in Rakhine triggered a fierce military response that the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing. Some 650,000 people fled the violence.
The military denies ethnic cleansing, saying its security forces mounted legitimate counter-insurgency operations.
The Bangladesh statement called for repatriating orphans and “children born out of unwarranted incidence,” a reference to cases of rape resulting in pregnancy, said a Bangladesh foreign ministry official who declined to be identified.
The rape of Rohingya women by Myanmar’s security forces was widespread, according to interviews with women conducted at displacement camps by U.N. medics and activists. The military denies it was involved in any sexual assaults.
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