Rohingya reject Burma’s latest repatriation offer as ‘drama’
Refugee leaders say Burma continues to deny Rohingya identity while offering to take back only some and leaving their safety, citizenship and rights unresolved
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have rejected Burma’s latest offer to take back more than 300,000 members of the persecuted community, saying the proposal creates new conditions for their return while refusing to recognize them as Rohingya.
Burma’s military government said it had identified 308,797 refugees in Bangladesh as former residents of Rakhine State and was prepared to accept their return once security conditions improve.
But its statement again described the refugees as “Bengali,” a term used by Burmese authorities to portray the Rohingya as outsiders from Bangladesh rather than an ethnic community native to Burma.
Rohingya representatives described the announcement as an attempt to appear committed to repatriation without addressing the barriers that have prevented refugees from returning for nearly nine years, according to BDnews24.com.
Syed Ullah, president of the United Council of Rohingya Representatives, called it a “drama” designed to avoid genuine repatriation.
More than 1.2 million Rohingya now live in refugee settlements along Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar coast, including hundreds of thousands who escaped a brutal Burmese military crackdown beginning in August 2017.
Despite repeated negotiations between Bangladesh and Burma, no large-scale voluntary repatriation has taken place.
Rohingya refugees have consistently demanded guarantees of citizenship, recognition of their ethnic identity, freedom of movement and protection from renewed persecution before returning.
Burma said it had reviewed 828,824 names submitted by Bangladesh and verified 426,545 as of July 31.
Of those, authorities classified 308,797 as former Rakhine residents, while claiming 4,241 were connected to “criminal activities.” Another 113,507 could not be verified.
The figures have raised concerns that Burma could use its verification process to permanently exclude hundreds of thousands of refugees from any future repatriation program.
Rahman Nasiruddin, an anthropology professor at Chittagong University who researches Rohingya displacement, said Bangladesh should resist any attempt to treat the roughly 300,000 people currently accepted by Burma as the final group eligible to return.
More fundamental questions also remain unanswered, including who would guarantee the refugees’ physical safety, what legal status they would receive and whether they would be allowed to rebuild their lives with dignity.
Burma has also offered no clear standard for determining when conditions in Rakhine are safe enough for returns. That uncertainty has become particularly significant as the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group fighting the military, has seized control of increasing amounts of territory in the state.
The shifting balance of power means the Burmese military may not even control many of the areas from which Rohingya refugees originally fled.
Nasiruddin warned that authorities could instead seek to return a limited number of refugees to territory still under their control, without resolving the broader political and citizenship questions at the heart of the Rohingya crisis.
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
