Repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar stalled

Repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar stalled

Published: Thursday, 27 October, 2005, 09:58 AM

Doha Time
By Mizan RahmanDHAKA:

Repatriation of around 21,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees in two camps in southeastern Cox’s Bazar district has almost stalled with only 92 of them sent back to Myanmar in the last one year.“The Rohingya repatriation process has almost been stopped and a political decision is required to accelerate the process,” said Jim Worrall, head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sub-office in Cox’s Bazar.

The process has slowed down because these people are not ready to go back home. Further negotiations between the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh are needed to accelerate the process, he observed.Against this backdrop, the UNHCR is going to build some semi-permanent structures like community centres and toilets for the refugees. These would also help the locals, he mentioned.The refugees are now living in two major camps - Kutupalong in Ukhia and Nayapara in Teknaf.Officials of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management said that Rohingya repatriation is going on. “Already 95% Rohingyas have been repatriated and 20,700 are still living in two camps,” said one official.Locals, however, said another 20,000 Rohingyas are living in roadside slums in Teknaf.

The slum dwellers said about 1,800 Rohingya families, who entered Bangladesh at different times after the massive influx in 1992, are living in the slums.According to the UNHCR Cox’s Bazar office, the number of unregistered Rohingas living in roadside slums would be around 6,000. “They are not registered because Bangladesh government does not recognise them as refugees,” Worrall said.“The UNHCR cannot look after them until and unless they are recongnised as refugees,” he said.Official entry of refugees in the camps stopped in 1992.Worrall pointed out that the UNHCR cannot force anyone to go back home. “Repatriation happens voluntarily.”The UN body is taking care of the refugees for the last 14 years. In reply to a question, he said the process would continue “as long as there are refugees”.Food for the refugees is provided by World Food Programme (WFP) and the UNHCR is for protecting the rights of the refugees.On the situation in the camps, Worrall said, it is not bad as various UN bodies are carrying out their respective responsibilities. “Although nobody is starving in the camps, this is not an ideal situation for a person to live.”Many refugees in and outside the camps said reports of torture and repression in their homeland prevent them from going back.Registered refugees are not returning home due to lack of peace in their areas while unregistered Rohingyas are fearing imprisonment if they go back without government support, sources mentioned.

The condition of unregistered Rohingyas is miserable and many of them died from starvation. About 30 Rohingyas died from starvation just in one month, some locals said without giving details.These distressed people somehow survive on small earnings as day labour. Many of them suffer from various diseases due to lack of medical facilities. Their children are malnourished due to lack of food.Rahimul Haq, an unregistered Rohingya, said Bangladesh government made a list of them but they are yet to get any relief or assistance.“We are forced to live a miserable life because if we go back home without government support, Myanmar forces would catch us and send us to jail for long. As we are absent from our areas for long, they would not recognise us as citizens of Myanmar,” he added.“In Myanmar, we could not sleep at night fearing torture by government forces,” said Imam Hossain, an elderly refugee at Kutupalong camp. He has been at the camp for 14 years.The Myanmar government confiscated their land and property, he said.Besides physical torture, Myanmar forces also resort to mental torture on Muslims. The Muslims cannot move freely and they face lot of difficulties in arranging marriages of their sons and daughters, Imam alleged.According to locals in Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf, Rohingyas still continued to come to the areas. Many of them got married to locals and merged into them. Their number is around four lakh.A section of Rohingyas work here, earn a lot and send money to their families and relatives back home.

Devaluation of Myanmar currency is an advantage for them, locals said.“If a Rohingya earns 100 taka here, it means 1,500 in Myanmar currency. This is another reason for their reluctance to go back home,” one local mentioned.