Arakan News Agency
Myanmar reiterated its readiness to begin implementing a plan for a phased repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, despite the recent announcement by the latter that the process should be postponed because of the need to resolve logistical issues.
“We are ready to receive those who will return across the border, at a rate of 300 returnees a day, and this number could be raised according to the progress of receiving the first batch,” said Thong Tun, the Myanmar minister.
Myanmar’s Minister of Social Welfare Win Myat said his country’s government had “handed over to Bangladesh a list of 700 Rohingya minority refugees and 400 Hindu refugees who had been found eligible to return,” saying that only those with identity documents would be allowed to return, Which most refugees lack.
Filippo Grandi, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), warned that “a proper and sustainable return” would require “dealing with issues, which we did not hear happened.” He pointed to the fears of the return of refugees to the troubled state of Arakan, forcibly and without guarantees, stressing the need to develop a mechanism for that, noting that the Commission does not have the freedom to move to perform its work there.
“The absence of necessary guarantees for potential returnees, with continued restrictions on the access of aid agencies, the media and independent observers,” a UNHCR spokesman said.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement to repatriate refugees with guarantees that “safeguard their security, safety and dignity.” But human rights organizations have expressed concern. Human Rights Watch said Bangladesh had to freeze the plan, saying it “threatened the safety and security of refugees.” The plan raised the refugees’ fear that they might be forced to return, in the absence of guarantees for their security.
