Conditions not yet conducive to return of Muslim refugees to Arakan State: UNHCR

By Admin 20 Mar 2023

DMG Newsroom
20 March 2023, Sittwe

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) released a statement on Monday in opposition to the potential return of Muslim refugees to Myanmar, for now, as the military regime is ostensibly working to bring them back from Bangladesh.

“In UNHCR’s assessment, conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine [Arakan] State are currently not conducive to the sustainable return of refugees,” said the UNHCR statement.

“At the same time, we reiterate that every refugee has a right to return to their home country based on an informed choice, but that no refugee should be forced to do so,” the statement added.

A Myanmar junta delegation led by junta-appointed Arakan State social minister U Aung Myo has reportedly been conducting technical verification of the refugees in Teknaf, Bangladesh, since March 15.

UNHCR supports efforts to create conditions that would be conducive to the sustainable return of refugees in Arakan State, reads Monday’s statement from the agency.

At least a portion of the Muslim refugee population have said they will not return to Myanmar unless they are guaranteed citizenship, safety and settlement in their places of origin.

Ko Aung Myaing, a refugee from the Kutupalong camp, said: “I have read the UNHCR statement. The statement says repatriation won’t work under the current situation in Arakan. Myanmar authorities must issue citizenship ID cards, and allow us to settle back in our original places. They must allow us to travel freely and enjoy fundamental rights like other ethnic people. Otherwise, we won’t go back.”

“In support of efforts to preserve the right to return, UNHCR considers consultation of and dialogue with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by all parties in relation to the conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as important to enable refugees to make an informed choice about return and build confidence amongst the community,” the agency’s statement said.

The regime has prepared transit camps in Taungpyo Letwe, Nga Khu Ya and Hla Poe Kaung in Maungdaw Township for returnees from Bangladesh.

More than 700,000 Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh when the Myanmar military carried out “clearance operations” following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks on several police outposts in 2017. 

The United Nations’ human rights chief at the time described the military’s actions as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” while others in the international community have called it genocide, including Bangladesh’s former foreign minister and the US secretary of state.