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The UN said that Myanmar's military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims last August in retaliation for an insurgent attack was an "ethnic cleansing". Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed an agreement for the repatriation of refugees, but its implementation is uncertain due to security, verification and other issues.
Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, visited the state of Rakhine in Myanmar where refugees once lived, as well as the camps where they currently live in Cox's district. Bazar, Bangladesh. He said people in both places were suffering.
"I met those who stayed and those who left, and it is clear that people are suffering on both sides," he said. "People lack safe housing, electricity, latrines, medicine and health care, and there are few options for people to earn an income allowing them to go to beyond help and emergency situations.
[19699002] Maurer also stated that the conditions for repatriation were difficult. "The conditions are simply not there to allow a large number of people to return home," he said.
The Rohingyas have been facing state discrimination for generations in the Buddhist majority in Myanmar. Mr Maurer said that their return would require "measures guaranteeing freedom of movement, access to basic services, freedom to undertake economic activities and access to Rakhine's markets, and especially confidence in security arrangements for returnees ".
He said that while he was in Myanmar, he met Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus and they described "how the social fabric and the local economy were destroyed, making the people entirely dependent on humanitarian aid ".
"In a village I visited, less than a quarter of the population remains, only 2,000 of the original 9,000 villagers," he said.
In Bangladesh camps, more than a million people live in misery, held hostage by a deeply troubling contradiction, he said.
"Those who shelter in Cox's Bazaar camps live in shocking conditions that violate human dignity," he said, noting that conditions in the camps will worsen with the arrival of monsoon rains.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi all visited refugee camps this week and promised to work with Bangladesh.
"A better future for people here will require inclusive political solutions, ecologically sustainable economic investments and a strong commitment to international humanitarian law and human rights," he said in a statement. in Dhaka.
He met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday and told him that he had found a positive attitude in Myanmar with a view to resolving the crisis, said Hasina's spokesman, Ihsanul Karim.
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