First step to secure future of Rohingya
LAST week, the United Nations inked a deal with the government of Myanmar to begin the long process of resettling some of the 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled their homes for neighbouring Bangladesh after a brutal military campaign last year.
The Myanmar government promoted the agreement as proof that it is doing right by the Rohingya, a persecuted minority that is denied citizenship rights and freedom of movement in Myanmar. The UN has celebrated it as a major first step that would help secure the future of the Rohingya in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
But no outside observers are able to verify the claims: The agreement has been kept unusually secret.
The three parties that signed the memorandum of understanding – the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR; the UN Development Program; and the Myanmar government – have declined to make the text of the agreement available t o those who have asked to see i t, including journalists, other UN officials and UN donor countries such as the United States.
NGOs, including Refugees International, have urged that the text be made public and warned in a statement that the “conditions for Rohingya in Myanmar remain appalling.”
A statement from about two dozen Rohingya organisations across the world also raised concerns about keeping the text secret.
“Previous records showed the UN agencies, including
UNHCR as the agent of the interest of the international community, could not provide adequate protection to the Rohingya returnees due to obstinacy of the Myanmar government,” the groups said. “We are intrinsically aware of the false promises of the Myanmar authorities who are characterised by cheating and brutality.”
A Western diplomat following the negotiations said the UN has withheld the text of the deal at the request of the Burmese government and called the lack of transparency “problematic”.
In response to questions from The Washington Post, Knut Ostby, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said the UNHCR, UNDP and Myanmar’s government are in “discussion about releasing the contents of the MoU”.
“Such a decision would require consent of all three parties.”
Negotiations between the UN agencies and the Burmese government took about four months, with heated discussions on the issues of citizenship and identity for the Rohingya. Most Burmese, including Aung San Suu Kyi and officials, do not even use the term“Rohingya”. The UN news release on the resettlement deal referred to the group as “refugees in Bangladesh”.
Ostby said in an interview before the signing of the agreement last week both sides agreed the Rohingya need to have “an identity and need to exist as normal people”. He also said the deal specifies the Rohingya need to be able to live in safety and be provided basic services, including access to work and shelter.
But no details have been provided by the UN, which will not be handling the citizenship verification process, or the Burmese government. And a statement from Suu Kyi’s office on the repa- triation agreement simply refers to the Rohingya community as “displaced persons” rather than using the word “Rohingya”.
In an interview with the Japanese broadcaster NHK, Suu Kyi pointed to the agreement as a sign Myanmar’s government has “carried out all [their] responsibilities” towards the refugees, and she urged the international community to study its text – the same text that has not been made public.
The Rohingya refugees themselves doubt that the government can ensure their safety. Many fled amid atrocities that allegedly included rape, torture and extrajudicial killings at the hands of the Burmese military, carried out in response to attacks by a militant group on police posts in Rakhine state.
The UN has not negotiated with the refugees themselves on the terms of resettlement but says it can do so now as it will be granted access to northern Rakhine, where the attacks occurred. The area was sealed off after the violence in August.
“We have not been in a position to negotiate with refugees before this, but UNHCR will now be in a position to have these conversations,” Ostby added.