Myanmar and Bangladesh sign Rohingya repatriation deal

November 26, 2017 by Caroline Calandro

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement on November 23 agreeing to work with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to facilitate the return of Rohingya refugees to the Rakhine State they were driven from.

Amnesty International describes the violence that has heightened in Myanmar over the past five years against the Muslim ethnic minority called the Rohingya as “dehumanizing apartheid,” and the United Nations has referred to it as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

News of this agreement came just one day after the United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also declared the violence in Myanmar to be ethnic cleansing.

CNN reports that the official agreement states that “Myanmar will take all possible measures to see that the returnees will not be settled in temporary places for a long period of time and their freedom of movement in the Rakhine State will be allowed in conformity with the existing laws and regulations.”

This process of repatriation will begin within the next two months. Yet many of the refugees are frustrated and skeptical of the claims made by the same officials that continue to deny knowledge of or involvement in any form of intentional state violence against the Rohingya. In fact, the Rohingya are often the ones painted as the enemy aggressors.

Myanmar’s government will also require the submission of forms for Rohingya people to re-enter their country. The form requires items to be stated, such as an address of the place they once lived. Though they are allowed to list family members, they are barred from listing newborn babies.

Amnesty International released a report accusing Myanmar of discriminatorily conspiring to prevent re-entry by “engaging in an active policy of depriving Rohingya of vital identity and residency documentation.”

“We can’t trust the government and military at all. No one should go back if they have to stay in a camp, if they are not allowed to live back in their original village. Myanmar government must restore their citizenship once they are repatriated,” Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin told CNN. 

However, the solution to this quagmire is not so simple. According to CNN over 620,00 Rohingya have fled Burma, overwhelming the southern Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh and stretching UNHCR resources thin in the refugee camps.

The primary reason for being driven from their lands in the Rakhine state was religious and ethnic discrimination and a long-standing refusal to recognize the Rohingya as Burmese citizens. Beyond the physical brutality that continues to be committed, irreparable damage has been done to the villages that were burned to the ground, leaving the land in ruins.

“Most houses were burnt down,” said Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Hassan Mahmood Ali in an interview with Reuters. He recognizes there is more work to be done with the help of the UNHCR before people can be pushed back into the Rakhine State.

“Where will they live after going back? So, it is not possible for them to physically return to their homes,” he said.

Not only would the Rohingya be returning to decimated villages, they would also be without livestock or resources to rebuild their communities.

“They burned our houses, they took our land and cows – will they give us these things back?” said Abdul Hamid, a Rohingya refugee in an interview with the Associated Press.

Still, the government of Myanmar has not agreed to accept the Rohingya as a minority group, and the official statement issued by Suu Kyi’s office glaringly did not refer to them by name.

According to the Guardian, the military “denies all allegations but has restricted access to the conflict zone” and have “blocked visas for a UN-fact finding mission tasked with investigating allegations of military abuse.”

Intentions and viability of this deal are questionable on behalf of Myanmar’s role. However, while certainly not sufficient for the pain that has been suffered, this seems to at least be a step in a more positive direction for the Rohingya people.

written for University of Connecticut International Reporting class