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Refugees Rohingya Sitara Begum with his son Mohammed Abbas, who are on the list of people awaiting repatriation, are waiting in their shelter at Jamtoli refugee camp, near Cox & Bazaar, Bangladesh, Thursday, November 15, 2018 Authorities in Bangladesh said on Thursday that the repatriation to Myanmar of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled army-led violence will start as planned if people are willing to go, despite calls. United Nations officials and human rights groups to ensure that refugee security in their country of origin is verified first. (AP Photo / Dar Yasin) The Associated Press
By JULHAS ALAM, Associated press
The Bangladeshi authorities have announced that the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims who had fled the violence carried out by the army in Myanmar will start as scheduled on Thursday if protesters want to go there, despite calls from UN officials and groups. defense of human rights.
Refugee Commissioner Abul Kalam told The Associated Press that he and other officials would go to Unchiprang, one of the sprawling refugee camps located near the town of Cox's Bazar. , to urge some of the more than 700,000 Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh last year to flee Myanmar voluntarily.
Kalam refused to say what the Bangladesh authorities would do if the refugees refused to leave, but according to an agreement reached between the United Kingdom and Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Rohingya can not be forced to return home.
"If they agree, we will take them to the transit camp and give them food for three days before handing them over to the Myanmar authorities," he said.
The huge exodus of Rohingya began last August, after Myanmar's security forces launched a brutal crackdown following attacks by a group of insurgents at the guard posts. The scale, organization and ferocity of the operation have led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide by the international community, including the United Nations.
Most of Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist inhabitants do not accept the fact that Rohingya Muslims belong to an indigenous ethnic group, they regard them as "Bengalis" who have entered Bangladesh illegally, even though generations of Rohingya have lived in Myanmar. Almost all have been denied citizenship since 1982, as well as access to education and hospitals.
Despite Myanmar's assurances, human rights activists said on Thursday that conditions were not yet in place to allow the return of Rohingya refugees.
"Nothing in the Myanmar government's words or actions suggests that the Rohingyas will be safe when they return," Human Rights Watch's Refugee Rights Director Bill Frelick said in a statement.
The group said that 150 people from 30 families had already been taken to a transit camp for their return.
Bangladeshi authorities said they had collaborated with the US Refugee Agency to compile lists of people ready to return to Myanmar.
In the Jamtoli refugee camp, Setara, 25, said she and her two children aged 4 and 7 were on a repatriation list, but her parents were not . She added that she had never asked to return to Myanmar and that she had sent her children to a school run by relief workers on Thursday morning, as usual.
"They killed my husband, now I live here with my parents," said Setara, who gave only one name. "I do not want to go back."
She added that other refugee families living in the Jamtoli camp, whose names were on the Bangladesh government's repatriation list, had taken refuge in other camps, in the same town. 39 hope to disappear among the crowded streets of refugees, aid workers and Bangladeshi soldiers.
Repatriation negotiations have been going on for months, but plans in January to begin sending refugees to Rakhine State in Myanmar have been canceled on the grounds that aid workers and Rohingya feared their return. do not be raped
Foreign leaders, including US Vice President Mike Pence, have criticized Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate this week, on the sidelines of a summit of the Association of the Nations. from Southeast Asia (Singapore) for its management of the Rohingya crisis.
But on Thursday, Pence said US officials were "encouraged to hear that" the repatriation process would begin.
In addition to those who arrived in Bangladesh last year, an estimated 200,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar in previous waves of violence and persecution.
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