THOUSANDS of Rohingya refugees in camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, protested last Thursday against an attempt to repatriate them to Myanmar.
The voluntary repatriation was per a bilateral agreement reached at the end of October between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The governments had agreed to the repatriation of 2,260 people from 485 families at the rate of 150 people per day over 15 days. However, plans for repatriations were postponed in the face of massive demonstrations in several of the 27 camps that now host over a million refugees.
Men, women and even children began protesting at one of the smaller camps in Unchiprang near the Myanmar border and protests soon spread across other camps, including the biggest camp Kutupalong.
They chanted slogans and waved placards that read — “We won’t go back”, “We demand safety”, “We want citizenship”, and “We demand justice”— as rows of buses arrived outside Unchiprang camp. The buses were to transport the refugees some 15km from Cox’s Bazar to the Bangladesh border of Gundum, from where they would have been taken to Tumbru in Myanmar.
Bangladeshi officials in charge of repatriation waited outside the camp asking the families to board the buses but none were willing.
Since August, more than 700,000 Rohingya — some 60 per cent of whom where children, according to the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) — fled atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Bangladesh.
Many still carry fresh memories of their experiences, which include alleged rape, sexual violence and the torching of homes with people still inside.
“Why should we return?” shouted Nahar, a 26-year-old mother of three who arrived last July. She said that returning to Myanmar means going to a death camp. Yousuf Ali, a resident of neighbouring Shamlapur camp said, “You want us to commit suicide?” A fellow refugee from Jamtoli camp said, “There is no guarantee that we would survive once we return.”
The Bangladeshi government, along with local and international aid organisations and UN agencies, has been working together to provide shelter, medical services, schooling and food to almost one million people.
Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s Refugee, Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner, and also a magistrate attached with Cox’s Bazar district office said: “We were prepared for the repatriation. Earlier we had sought a voluntary decision and made informed choices on the return of the refugees. No one responded with the decision to return home in Myanmar and so we had to postpone the programme.”
Last Tuesday, 50 of the identified families selected for return were interviewed by the UN to find out whether they agreed to return. None agreed, according to Kalam.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had last week urged Bangladesh to halt the repatriation, saying the move would violate international laws.
“With an almost complete lack of accountability — indeed with ongoing violations — returning Rohingya refugees to Myanmar at this point effectively means throwing them back into the cycle of human rights violations that this community has been suffering for decades,” Bachelet said.
In October chair of the UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman, said that the Myanmar government’s “hardened positions are by far the greatest obstacle” to repatriation. He had also said: “Myanmar is destined to repeat the cycles of violence unless there is an end to impunity.” The UN has called for a full investigation into genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine state.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, on Thursday evening, said Bangladesh would not forcibly return Rohingya to Myanmar.
“There have been campaigns that the Bangladesh government is sending them back forcibly. From the beginning we have been saying that it will be a voluntary return. There is no question of forcible repatriation. We gave them shelter, so why should we send them back forcibly?” he said.
Mia Seppo, UN resident coordinator in Dhaka, said: “The UN actually welcomes the commitment of the government of Bangladesh to stick to the principle of voluntary repatriation, which has been demonstrated today.”
Abu Morshed Chowdhury, President of Cox’s Bazar Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of Cox’s Bazar Civil Society NGO Forum, said there were flaws in the repatriation plans. “How can the refugees return, even if it’s voluntary, without ensuring their citizenship? The UN agencies have a responsibility to ensure this.” IPS