[Statement] Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh: immediately stop the plan of repatriating Rohingya refugees

Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh: immediately stop the plan of repatriating Rohingya refugees

5 November 2018

Myanmar and Bangladesh, after meetings in Dhaka, announced a bilateral agreement on October 30 that repatriation of the Rohingya ethnic minority, who fled to Bangladesh amid the Myanmar military-led attack will begin from mid-November. Korean Civil Society Organizations in solidarity with the Rohingya is deeply concerned about the consequences that the agreement will bring about regarding the safety of the Rohingya refugee, and urges both governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to immediately stop their plan of enforced repatriation. 

Repatriation process should be safe, voluntary, and dignified. Before repatriation, there need to be discussions about prosecution of those responsible for the massacre, recognition of the Rohingya as an ethnic minority of Myanmar, and recovery of their citizenship status. The international community should first create a mechanism that grants safety of the Rohingya before repatriation. 

According to the press, Myanmar government will be handed with initial 2,260 refugees out of 4,000 whose residency in Myanmar have been verified from the Bangladeshi government.  The number of the Rohingya in the Bangladesh refugee camp has reached nearly 900,000. They fled their home country, Myanmar, due to the indiscriminate mass killing, rape, and arson by Myanmar's military. They lost their family members and friends in front of their eyes, and are having great difficulties in daily life.

The persecution of the Rohingya has a long history. In Myanmar, where the majority are Buddhists, the Rohingya are called "Bengali," and are treated as illegal residents. 200,000 and 250,000 Rohingya people were expelled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991, respectively.  Oppression of the Rohingya is a systematic and institutionalized practice in Myanmar society. Citizenship of the Rohingya is either deprived or not given at all, and their freedom of movement is extremely restricted. For instance, in order to visit neighboring villages, they need to get permission by the public authority and pay the fee for traveling. 

The Rohingya need the government's permission before getting married, and due to the policy that they are not allowed to have more than two children, Rohingya women are vulnerable to unsafe measures of abortion. They do not have the limited opportunity to study or learn, and are not allowed to work in public offices. In 2015, the right to vote was not given any longer. In addition, in 2016, the Myanmar's military, in the name of crackdown on terrorism, committed beating, killing, torture, arbitrary detention, punishment, mass rape, arson, plunder, and other crimes on civilians. In 2017, they operated a mass scale of ethnic cleansing, leading to the death of thousands of people. The measure of consistent persecution of the Rohingya by the military for the past 40 years is simply incomprehensible. 

As demonstrated in a research on the persecution and killing of the Rohingya, it is a "slow-burning genocide" as well as an "ongoing genocide," as phrased by Marzuki Darusman, the chair of the UN Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar at the Security Council. Brutal acts are underway, and killings are in process. Refugees are still crossing the border to Bangladesh. There has been little change in the leadership of Myanmar's military that claimed on extermination of the Rohingya. 

According to a national press, on November 4, there was a protest held by Buddhists in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, opposing repatriation of the Rohingya. They were against residence of the Rohingya in Rakhine, and insisted more Buddhist towns to be established. It is illogical to repatriate the Rohingya in the current situation. The Myanmar government plans to accommodate the repatriated Rohingya in the temporary camp, but has not announced how long the refugees would have to stay. Critics of the repatriation express a common concern that the temporary camps would end up being a detention center. 

While the international community has clearly named the persecution and killing of the Rohingya by Myanmar's military "war crime," "crimes against humanity," and "genocide," the civilian government of Myanmar led by its military and Aung San Suu Kyi continue to deny their role, and are nonresponsive to the request to prosecute the responsible. 

To repatriate the Rohingya without any redemption or commitment to improve conditions by the government is to send the Rohingya back to the site of genocide and killing field. This is a violation of principle of non-refoulement, which bans repatriation of people to a country where they will face persecution, torture, threat to life or cruel and inhuman treatment. Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh should abide by the international standard, and the international community needs to take a responsible action towards creating a mechanism of protection for the Rohingya. 

Chris Melzer, UNHCR's senior external officer based in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, openly voiced his concerns about the repatriation plan by stating that "The situation of the west Rakhine, Myanmar, is not yet appropriate for the Rohingya to return." Charles Santiago of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights also pleaded that for the Rohingya, who live under an "apartheid-like system," a plan that grants their safety and livelihood should be put in place first. 

It is apparent that the repatriated Rohingya would face a life in fear, haunted by the nightmare of mass killing. Repatriation, without a conscious consideration about the government's systematic practice of discrimination, persecution, hatred, and grave human rights violations, must be halted. The most persecuted people named the Rohingya, who are prohibited from calling themselves as the Rohingya, need to return through a safe, dignified, and voluntary process. As the Rohingya wish, their deprived citizenship since 1982 also should be restored. 

The Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Rohingyas

A-PAD Korea

Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL)

Asian Dignity Initiative

Eco-Peace-Asia

GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation

Korean House for International Solidarity

Korean Solidarity for Overseas Community Organization (KOCO)

MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society International Solidarity Committee

New Bodhisattva Network

Order of Friars Minor

People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy

Social and Labor Committee of Jogye order of Korean Buddhism

Truth Foundation