Halt Rohingya repatriation plan, HRW urges Bangladesh

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged Bangladesh authorities to halt plans of Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar, where their lives and liberty would be jeopardised.

In a statement issued Friday (31 March), HRW has claimed that Rohingya refugees told the organisation that they were "lied to, deceived, or otherwise coerced" by Bangladesh administrators into meeting with a recent delegation of Myanmar junta officials as part of a "pilot repatriation" effort to return about 1,000 refugees.

"Some were told the meeting will discuss their possible resettlement to a third country," the statement added.

"Voluntary, safe, and dignified returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar are not possible while the military junta is carrying out massacres around the country and apartheid in Rakhine State," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"Bangladesh authorities should stop deceiving these refugees to get them to engage with junta officials when it's clear that Rohingya will only be able to return safely when rights-respecting rule is established," she added.

Since 2017, when over 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's military's crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine State have not been conducive to voluntary, safe, or dignified returns of Rohingya refugees. Since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, led by the same generals who orchestrated the 2017 mass atrocities, the prospect of long-term returns has grown increasingly bleak.

Human Rights Watch stated that Bangladesh has appropriately not compelled these refugees to return and should maintain this policy with the support of international donors.

From 15 to 22 March, 2023, a delegation of 17 Myanmar junta officials visited the Cox's Bazar camps in Bangladesh, which house approximately one million Rohingya refugees.

According to media reports, officials interviewed 449 Rohingya from 149 families in the Teknaf camps for "verification" for the pilot repatriation process. According to Agence France-Presse, the pilot programme could begin as early as mid-April.

Bangladesh officials reported that the 449 Rohingya were interviewed to verify their identities and places of origin, joining a list of over 700 refugees already confirmed for the pilot repatriation.

Junta officials have also been visiting Rakhine in preparation for their response to the International Court of Justice in the Gambia Genocide Convention case, which is due on April 24. Activists and refugees claim that the pilot repatriation operation is part of a larger junta effort to appear to the court to be making progress in its treatment of the Rohingya.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provided unmarked UN boats to carry the junta delegation to Cox's Bazar.

In response to criticism, UNHCR said that while it is not involved in the pilot repatriation discussions, it "supports efforts that could lead to the verification of all refugees and pave the way for eventual return," which in this case included "providing logistical support to members of the Myanmar delegation to cross into Bangladesh for the technical verification process." UNHCR did assert that "conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine State are currently not conducive to the sustainable return of Rohingya refugees."