U.N. urges rethink of Rohingya repatriations to ensure safeguards

PALONG KHALI, Bangladesh/NAYPYITAW, Myanmar, (Reuters) - T he U.N. refugee agency and other groups have urged a rethink of the plan to send Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar amid fears of forced repatriations and the inability of aid agencies to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands who fled bloodshed at home.

The calls come as Bangladesh delayed the repatriation of the largely stateless Rohingya to Myanmar as the process of compiling and verifying the list of people to be sent back was incomplete.

“In order for the repatriation to be (done) right, to be sustainable, actually viable ... you need to really address a number of issues that for the time being we have heard nothing about,” UNHCR head Filippo Grandi said in Geneva, noting that issues like citizenship had not been addressed.

More than 688,000 Muslim Rohingya and a few hundred Hindu Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 last year after the Myanmar military cracked down in the northern part of Rakhine state, amid witness reports of killings, looting and rape, in response to militant attacks on security forces.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the delay in the repatriations was a good idea and Washington was concerned about a lack of access for U.N. organisations.

“People can’t be forced to go home when they don’t feel like they are safe,” she told a news briefing, adding it was only recently that the refugees had been victims of attack.

“I think everybody wants to return home in the long haul, but they want to be able to return home when it’s safe to do so.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the plight of the Rohingya was even worse than media portrayals.

“This is a tragedy that’s worse than anything that CNN or BBC has been able to portray,” Mattis said, speaking to reporters during a trip to Indonesia.