Arakan News Agency
“The resettlement agreement is a nightmare for all the survivors of genocide who fled to Bangladesh,” Kyaw said in an interview with Anadolu. We are very concerned about that. “
He said Rohingya refugees currently sheltering in Bangladesh “must never be returned to the killing fields before ensuring their safety, security and citizenship.”
The bilateral agreement, signed on November 23 last year, provides some almost impossible conditions for verifying the existence of persons described by the agreement as “displaced from Myanmar” rather than using the widely known description as “ethnic Rohingya”.
Although Tuesday is the deadline for the start of the repatriation process, it seems likely that this process will take more time because many issues remain open.
Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, UNHCR and Amnesty International have expressed concern over the agreement, saying it will send Rohingya back to barbaric practices in Myanmar.
Amnesty International described the plan as “worryingly premature” while Human Rights Watch called on both governments (in Bangladesh and Myanmar) to redraft the agreement, including UNHCR.
Earlier this month, Bangladesh and Myanmar ended an agreement on material arrangements to repatriate the Rohingya and agreed to send 100,000 Rohingya to Myanmar in the first stage.
The process will take some time, with Myanmar agreeing to accept 1,500 Rohingya per week, with the aim of recovering more than 700,000 of them within two years.
The Rohingya will first be moved to a “temporary camp” under Myanmar’s control and then settle in a nearby area.
“They must be returned to their original homes,” Kyaw said. Their homes must be rebuilt, “he said, noting that most of the Rohingya villages had been burned.
“The agreement did not deal with basic human rights. Bangladesh is trying to return them only. ” “People are still fleeing the area and are being arrested every day,” he said.
“None of the Rohingya wants to return unless their safety is guaranteed because they have witnessed atrocities committed by the security forces in Myanmar. Bangladesh seems to be trying to force them back. “
He explained that forcible return would lead to a new influx of refugees in a few years.
“The Myanmar army will launch another operation (against Rohingya) a few years later unless the international community takes concrete action against Myanmar,” he said.
CR Abrar, coordinator of the Refugee and Refugee Movement Research Unit in Dhaka, echoed Kyaw’s concern while noting that the Bangladeshi government was working to ensure some aspects of the agreement.
