{"id":121453,"date":"2018-11-05T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=121453"},"modified":"2018-11-12T12:12:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T12:12:12","slug":"free-rohingya-coalition-condemns-premature-repatriation-of-rohingyas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/11\/free-rohingya-coalition-condemns-premature-repatriation-of-rohingyas\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Rohingya Coalition Condemns Premature Repatriation of Rohingyas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>1 Nov 2018 – <\/em>The Free Rohingya Coalition is deeply troubled by yesterday\u2019s announcement by Bangladesh and Myanmar that both countries will begin repatriating Rohingyas in mid-November.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are Rohingya activists and international supporters who have been extremely appreciative of the political leadership of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her compassionate embrace of Rohingyas, which has won worldwide praise and admirations.<\/p>\n

So we are saddened and shocked by Bangladesh\u2019s Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque telling the media that: \u201cwe are looking forward to start the repatriation in mid-November\u201d. The Free Rohingya Coalition is, therefore, extremely disturbed that the Government of Bangladesh might be prepared to resort to the unconscionable and internationally illegal practices that characterized previous waves of repatriation.<\/p>\n

The Rohingya have long been very much aware of the past waves of bilateral repatriations since 1978 \u2014particularly the 1978 and 1992\/93 large scale repatriations \u2014 wherein a total of nearly 500,000 Rohingyas were sent back to Myanmar under questionable circumstances, and with UNHCR\u2019s awareness of the unfavourable and unsafe conditions for repatriation once the Rohingyas were back in their homeland of Myanmar. The two waves of exodus of the past 2 years \u2014 in 2016 and 2017 \u2014 which resulted in the cross-border deportation of nearly 1 million Rohingyas, have proved Bangladesh\u2019s policy failure in forcibly repatriating thousands of Rohingyas back.<\/p>\n

This time, not even the UN High Commission for the Refugees can stomach this repatriation, which will be tantamount to refoulment, an illegal act of expulsion of individuals who deserve protection and refugee.<\/p>\n

Chris Melzer, the UNHCR\u2019s senior external officer based in Cox\u2019s Bazar, Bangladesh, openly opposed the latest development: \u201cUNHCR was not a party to that agreement.\u00a0 We would advise against imposing any timetable or target figures for repatriation in respect of the voluntary nature and sustainability of return. It is unclear if refugees know their names are on this list that has been cleared by Myanmar. They need to be informed. They also need to be consulted if they are willing to return \u2026 It is critical that returns are not rushed or premature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Bangladesh nor the Myanmar civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi has been able to assuage Rohingyas\u2019 widespread and well-founded fear that their lives, families and communities will once again face further attacks once they are back in their homeland of Western Myanmar.<\/p>\n

Only a week ago on 24 October, the UN Fact Finding Mission Chief and former Indonesian Attorney General\u00a0 Marzuki Darusman officially told the Security Council that Myanmar\u2019s genocide is \u201con-going\u201d \u2014 pointing to the unchanging nature of the structures of genocidal repression and persecution, the same military leadership and the same public opinion which calls for the extermination of the Rohingyas.<\/p>\n

It is widely acknowledged that neither Suu Kyi not her bureaucratic representatives led by permanent\u00a0 secretary Mr Myint Thu who came to negotiate the latest bilateral deal in Dhaka, have any control or influence over either armed Rakhine nationalists or Myanmar security forces.<\/p>\n

Suu Kyi\u2019s representative Myint Thu was heard promising the \u201cesteemed people\u201d of the Rohingyas in the camps 300 elementary schools, seed money for businesses, future jobs in an industrial park under construction, prefabricated homes, rows of toilets,mobile clinics, 10-days of exam coaching for Rohingya distance education students, and the official offer of a pathway to citizenship via NVC-cards \u2013 which Rohingyas have risked their lives rejecting.<\/p>\n

Neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh nor international donors appear to grasp the fundamental driver behind periodic waves of the exodus of Rohingya from their homeland in Northern Rakhine: the hellish conditions which Myanmar\u2019s genocidal policies have produced, and since August 2017, large scale mass slaughter, systematic mass rape, and the burning down of nearly 400 villages.<\/p>\n

Dr Maung Zarni, a noted Burmese genocide scholar, and coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition, said: \u201csending Rohingyas back to Myanmar without their consent is sending them back to genocide with the hollow promise of new amenities and opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a grassroots international network of genocide scholars, rights activists and Rohingya exiles, with a broad base of supporters among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, we have been extremely supportive of the Government of Dhaka and sought to cooperate in whatever ways we could.<\/p>\n

We therefore appeal to the Government of Bangladesh to ensure that no Rohingyas be sent back to Myanmar\u2019s killing fields, without addressing Rohingyas\u2019 need for a protection mechanism or \u201csafe zone\u201d, as Sheik Hasina has proposed to the United Nations in two consecutive General Assemblies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Backgrounder:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Natalie Brinham \u201cGenocide cards\u201d: Rohingya refugees on why they risked their lives to refuse ID cards<\/a>, Open Democracy, 21 October 2018<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Primitive people\u2019: the untold story of UNHCR\u2019s historical engagement with Rohingya refugees<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nay San Lwin, Coordinator for Media Relations and Campaigns at\u00a0nslwin@rohingyablogger.com<\/a>; +49 176 62139138<\/p>\n

Tun Khin, Coordinator for International Outreach at tunkhin80@gmail.com<\/a>;\u00a0+44 788 871 4866<\/p>\n

Maung Zarni, Coordinator for Strategic Affairs at fanon2005@gmail.com<\/a>;\u00a0+44 771 047 3322<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 freerohingyacoalition.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Nov 2018 – The Free Rohingya Coalition is deeply troubled by yesterday\u2019s announcement by Bangladesh and Myanmar that both countries will begin repatriating Rohingyas in mid-November. We are extremely disturbed that the Government of Bangladesh might be prepared to resort to the unconscionable and internationally illegal practices that characterized previous waves of repatriation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":112657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,677],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","category-asia-updates-on-myanmar-rohingya-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}