Myanmar must accept int’l solution for safe return of Rohingyas

The Myanmar government has failed to ensure that nearly one million Rohingya refugees can safely return home three years since fleeing their country, Human Rights Watch said in a statement circulated yesterday.

"Myanmar's government should recognise that the terrible suffering it has caused the Rohingya won't disappear even amid a global pandemic," said the statement quoting Brad Adams, its Asia director.

"Myanmar needs to accept an international solution that provides for the safe, voluntary return of Rohingya refugees, while an understandably stretched Bangladesh should not make conditions inhospitable for refugees who have nowhere to go," Adams said, as per the statement.

The statement pointed out that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January imposed provisional measures on Myanmar to prevent genocide while it adjudicates alleged violations of the Genocide Convention, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2019 began an investigation into Myanmar's forced deportation of Rohingya and related crimes against humanity.

"[But] Myanmar has not complied with these international justice measures, has not permitted the United Nations to investigate grave crimes inside the country, nor conducted credible criminal investigations of its own into military atrocities," the statement concluded.

In addition, the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar's Rakhine State face severe repression and violence, with no freedom of movement or other basic rights.

The statement also added that desperate Rohingya seeking refuge in another countries in the region faced multiple levels of persecution.

"Some have been stranded at sea for weeks or months, with hundreds feared dead on boats that disappeared after Malaysia and Thailand illegally pushed them back using the Covid-19 pandemic as justification. Malaysia has detained arriving Rohingya refugees, denied them access to the UN refugee agency, and prosecuted some for illegal entry," it said.

The Myanmar government needs to amend the citizenship law in line with international standards, lift restrictions on freedom of movement, repeal discriminatory regulations and local orders, and cease all official and unofficial practices that restrict the movement of the Rohingya populations, noted the statement.

"The government has placed restrictions on mobile internet communications across eight townships in Rakhine State, and one in neighboring Chin State, making delivery of humanitarian aid even more difficult and depriving civilians of information. The government has not granted UN agencies and humanitarian groups unrestricted and sustained access to Rakhine State, heightening the burdens on ethnic populations in need," it said.

HRW said that Bangladesh government had organised several official repatriation attempts which failed because refugees have been unwilling to return, saying they feared persecution and abuse in Myanmar.

"Refugees who have spoken to Human Rights Watch overwhelmingly express a desire to return to their homes in Myanmar once it is safe; when they have citizenship and freedom of movement; and when there is genuine accountability for atrocities," reiterated the statement.

Meanwhile, conditions in the camps in Bangladesh are deteriorating, HRW added.

"While Bangladesh commendably opened its borders to the Rohingya fleeing atrocities, the government's policies over the past year have put refugees' lives at serious risk and violated their basic rights," alleged HRW.

Bangladesh began building barbed wire fencing and guard towers around the refugee camps despite opposition by UN and other humanitarian agencies, which is a violation to their rights to freedom of movement, HRW said.

"Refugees expressed fears that the fencing would restrict their ability to obtain essential services, make it impossible to flee in case of emergency, and create significant barriers for contacting relatives in other camps," pointed out the statement.

"For the past three years they have denied access to basic accredited education to the over 450,000 Rohingya children in the camps," it said.

The statement also spoke about the lack of digital rights of the Rohingya population.

"Nearly a year ago, the Bangladesh government, in response to a peaceful demonstration in Kutapulong camp commemorating 'Rohingya genocide awareness day,' shut off all internet access in the refugee camps, directed mobile phone carrier companies to stop selling SIM cards to Rohingya, and confiscated thousands of SIM cards from refugees. Aid workers said this has seriously hampered their capacity to provide emergency health services, provide timely and accurate information about the virus, and rapidly coordinate essential measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the camps," it said.

"Concerned governments should ramp up support for the refugees in Bangladesh while issuing targeted sanctions against Myanmar for failing to create the necessary conditions for the refugees to finally go home," concluded the statement, quoting Adams.