ROHINGYA REPATRIATION
MORE than a million Rohingyas who escaped from the persecution of Myanmar forces in 2017, after and before have stayed in 33 camps at Ukhia and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char in Noakhali. It has not been possible to send even one Rohingya back to Myanmar in the past six years. Bangladesh signed an agreement with Myanmar to repatriate the Rohingyas in November 2017. In 2018, repatriation efforts by Bangladesh and Myanmar failed.
Repatriation initiative was taken again in 2019 through the mediation of China, but it was not implemented. As a result, the repatriation process has been at a standstill for the past six years. The process of repatriating the Rohingyas to Rakhine on a small scale was supposed to begin in 2020, but since it has not started, China has been pressuring Myanmar. ASEAN countries were also continuing with their efforts to initiate small-scale repatriation to address the Rohingya issue.
Recently, Myanmar has taken an initiative to take back more than 1,000 Rohingyas from Bangladesh under a pilot project. As part of this, diplomats from eight countries, including Bangladesh, India and China, and some ASEAN countries posted to Myanmar were taken to Rakhine on March 8. Eleven diplomats from eight countries were taken around the interim camps in Mangdu and Sittwe, Myanmar. The diplomats are on a visit to Myanmar’s Rakhine state to see the progress of preparations for the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees who have taken refuge in Bangladesh. They have been told that Myanmar wants to start the Rohingya repatriation process as soon as possible. According to diplomatic sources, Myanmar has taken this initiative under pressure from China.
Diplomats returning from Rakhine have reported that the situation in Rakhine is slightly better compared with what it was in 2018–2020. Rohingyas in an internally displaced camp near Sittwe, Myanmar now get access to the town of Sittwe, where Rohingyas were previously not allowed to leave the camp. According to data, the Rohingyas are getting limited access to education and health care which had not earlier been available.
The ambassadors visited the renovation of the interim camp built five years ago in the village of Nakuya on the banks of the River Naf. All the Rohingyas who would be taken back through the Naf would be kept in this camp for the first few days. They would, then, be shifted to Lapukha Camp in Mangdu. They would stay there for a month and be, finally, permanently transferred to the camps under construction near Mangdu and Sittwe. The diplomats were also shown the camp of IDPs who have lived in Chokpeu area since 2012. They were told that these camps would be closed and the displaced Rohingyas would be permanently relocated to nearby villages. Chokpiu is an important area with Chinese-invested oil companies and a deep-sea port.
According to the information obtained from various media, the situation in Rakhine is currently good. A few months ago, the Arakan Army was at war with the Myanmar military in Rakhine. Later, through the mediation of the Nippon Foundation chairman Sasakawa, there has been a temporary ceasefire and peace now apparently prevails. In this situation, the repatriation can be started by taking thousands of Rohingyas back to Myanmar.
If the repatriation begins, the international pressure on the military government of Myanmar would decrease a little and the acceptance of the military government would increase a little. Myanmar would have to present its arguments in the Rohingya Genocide case at the International Court of Justice on April 24. Many believe that the International Court of Justice may have a relationship with this repatriation initiative. Through this initiative, the Myanmar government would inform the International Court of Justice that it is taking steps to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
A list of 888,000 Rohingyas was given to Myanmar by Bangladesh government in 2018 with the hope that they would be repatriated. After verifying the list provided by Bangladesh, Myanmar announced that it would take back about 70,000 Rohingyas. In January 2022, 1,140 people were initially selected for family-based repatriation from that list as part of a pilot project. Myanmar agreed to repatriate 711 Rohingyas among them. A 17-member delegation headed by Aung Myew, regional director of Myanmar’s foreign affairs, Mangdu, visited Bangladesh on March 15 to verify information as they had objections to the remaining 429. The delegation left Bangladesh on March 22 after verifying the information by interviewing 429 Rohingyas in seven days.
Myanmar plans to begin repatriation by taking back 1,500 Rohingyas under the pilot project. It would try to show that it is serious about repatriation through this project. A little more than 1,000 Rohingyas would be taken back under family-based repatriation. Myanmar’s deputy minister of information Zaw Min Tun said the pilot programme on Rohingya repatriation could begin in the middle of April. The Myanmar government has undertaken a pilot project to build 15 villages on 750 plots to house the Rohingyas.
The Rohingyas repatriated from Bangladesh will first be kept in Hla Pho Khaung Interim Camp for two months. From there, they will be sent to these new villages after being verified at Taung Pyo Letwe and Nagar Khu Ya camps in Mangdu. On March 23, Myanmar announced plans to repatriate 5,000 more Rohingyas if the pilot project is successfully implemented. The Rohingyas who have taken refuge in Bangladesh want to return to their villages in Myanmar. But they are not interested in repatriation if they cannot go back to their villages. They will return to Myanmar if they are guaranteed citizenship rights, the freedom of travel or equal rights with other nationalities.
After assessing the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the UNHCR said that the situation there was not favourable for a sustainable return of the Rohingyas. Regarding the visit of the Myanmar delegation to Bangladesh under a pilot project between Bangladesh and Myanmar, the UNHCR said that it was not involved in the discussions between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the possible repatriation of the Rohingyas. The UNHCR says that it is working with Myanmar to repatriate the Rohingyas in Rakhine. It would continue to work with Bangladesh and Myanmar to ensure that the Rohingyas participate in voluntary repatriation. The UNHCR will support efforts to create favourable conditions for the sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya in Rakhine. The UNHCR will continue to support the repatriation of Rohingyas in Bangladesh and their skills and capacity-building.
Many of the Rohingyas who have been vetted are reportedly not interested in returning to Myanmar right now. They are not confident enough of a return to Myanmar. The Rohingyas in Myanmar are doing well there and they will return to Myanmar if the Rohingyas there assure them of the end of the Myanmar army’s atrocities. The displaced Rohingyas living in camps in Myanmar are living inhumane lives. Because of the ongoing violence, the United Nations and other aid organisations are not able to properly carry out relief operations in Myanmar.
In order to get out of this situation, arrangements must be made to start relief operations in all those camps immediately. Myanmar did not involve the United Nations and international organisations in this pilot project. These organisations have been providing relief for the Rohingyas for six years. The United Nations has said that the situation in Rakhine is not conducive to repatriation. Without relief aid, the Rohingyas are likely to fall back into a humanitarian disaster.
Many people think that it was necessary to keep them in this initiative. The Rohingyas in Bangladesh have demanded several times that they would not return to Myanmar if they did not get citizenship. Myanmar has not said anything about the Rohingya’s citizenship and it is unclear whether its attitude towards the Rohingyas has changed. In the current context, there is no information on the progress on the acceptance of the Rohingyas in Rakhine. The Arakan Army has said that it considers the Rohingyas its own people, but it is not known to be involved in the project. At the same time, little is known about the steps taken to change hostile attitudes against the Rohingyas and there is no clear indication of a change in political will.
Rohingya rights groups say that repatriation without citizenship recognition risks a repeat of the same incident. Myanmar has said that it would relocate the Rohingyas to newly built villages after taking them back but the Rohingyas want to return to their home villages. The resettlement of the Rohingyas staying in the camps in Myanmar to their previous homes and villages will create an environment of trust among the Rohingyas in Bangladesh and the Rohingyas will return to Myanmar voluntarily and as a result. The overall repatriation process is expected to be sustainable.
The Rohingya problem is weighing on Bangladesh. The current global crisis is likely to divert the attention of the international community from the Rohingya crisis. Because of the financial crisis, the budget for the Rohingyas has been reduced. Apart from this, because of the deterioration in law and order in Rohingya camps, security threats are created. In this situation, Bangladesh appears to be wanting the repatriation of Rohingyass to begin, even if the number is small.
The Bangladesh government appears keen on continuing with emphasis on sustainable repatriation and Bangladesh expects Myanmar’s active cooperation in this regard. This initiative taken by Myanmar for the repatriation of the Rohingyas is positive. It is hoped that Myanmar would continue with this programme through a sustainable plan, assuring the Rohingyas of their safety and rehabilitation.
Harunur Rasid is a London-based Bangladeshi expatriate who is a Bangladesh and Myanmar affairs observer, analyst, and researcher.