HRW: Rohingya Refugees are Unlikely to Return Home Safely

Dhaka, MINA – The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face a small possibility of returning to Myanmar safely.

Six years since the Myanmar military carried out acts of mass atrocities in Rakhine State on August 25, 2017. They are still vulnerable in refugee camps in Bangladesh, said HRW on Sunday.

The UN Security Council has failed to hold Myanmar’s generals accountable for crimes against humanity and acts of genocide against the Rohingya, HRW continued.

More than 730,000 Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh in 2017 are now living in sprawling and overcrowded camps under tighter restrictions by the authorities and increasing violence by armed groups.

Another 600,000 Rohingya are in Myanmar, detained and under pressure from the junta’s authorities under the apartheid system.

“Rohingya on both sides of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border are trapped without a state, denied their most basic rights, waiting for justice and a chance to return home,” said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at HRW.

“The inaction of the UN Security Council and the reduction in government assistance has made the situation for the Rohingya even more dire,” he continued.

Since the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, security forces have arrested thousands of Rohingya for “unauthorized travel” and imposed new movement restrictions and blocks of aid in Rohingya camps and villages.

The junta’s systematic violations against the Rohingya amounted to crimes against humanity apartheid, persecution and deprivation of liberty, HRW said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi authorities have shifted some 30,000 Rohingya to the isolated island of Bhasan Char, and are facing shortages of food and medicine.

With no recognized legal status in Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees are in a precarious position under domestic law, leaving them vulnerable to rights abuses. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)