What do Myanmar's two model villages offer to Rohingyas?
Myanmar has constructed two model villages under its pilot return project of Rohingyas who are living in Cox's Bazar camps.
After visiting these villages, Bangladeshi officials have stated that these communities resemble the Ashrayan Project in Bangladesh.
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman who visited the site along with Rohingya leaders on Friday, told The Business Standard, "One village has 215 homes while the other has 99. Four to five individuals can reside in one home. However, the dwellings do not have any attached kitchen or a bathroom."
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According to Mizanur Rahman, "These homes are too small. Given the size of the Rohingya families, two residences may be required. The Rohingyas need to use public restrooms outside of their homes."
He further added, "We asked them where the Rohingyas would get food because there is no arrangement inside the homes, and they said the Rohingyas would have to make these arrangements on their own." The Myanmar government, on the other hand, will supply a furnace and firewood for a month."
Children from the Rohingya community will be allowed to enrol in a few local schools and receive medical care at adjacent clinics.
Mizanur Rahman said, "The Rohingyas who will be returning home will first be placed in these homes. They will then be able to move and purchase residences gradually."
However, the Rohingyas desired to go back to their place of origin in the Rakhine state, which is not currently possible according to Myanmar government officials.
About a million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh due to decades-long institutionalised discrimination, statelessness, and targeted brutality in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Dhaka and Naypyidaw signed an agreement in early 2018 to allow for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
However, despite several discussions about repatriation being successful, no one has returned to Rakhine.
Mizanur Rahman is optimistic, saying, "We want to start the repatriation. A Myanmar team will visit Bangladesh next week as part of the repatriation procedure."
However, Rohingya leaders have described these villages as prisons.
According to the Dhaka-Naypyidaw agreement, the Rohingyas will be resettled in their place of origin or nearby, said Mizanur Rahman
"To begin the repatriation, we must approach it with a good attitude," he added.
