B’desh, Myanmar form joint group to repatriate Rohingyas

Bangladesh and Myanmar on Tuesday formed a 30member joint panel to oversee repatriation of Rohingya refugees within two months, despite rights groups warning that their safety is not assured in the Buddhist majority country.

“Now, we will start the next step of our work,” Bangladesh Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali told reporters.

In a statement, Bangladesh foreign office said that the working group will develop physical arrangements for the refugees' return, including mechanisms for verification, time schedule, transport and logistical arrangements, reception procedures and communication.

It said the working group would "ensure commencement of repatriation within two months".

The joint working group “shall involve assistance of the UNHCR and other mandated UN agencies and interested international partners in various stages of repatriation”.

It would comprise equal number of representatives from each side to undertake “all necessary measures to start the safe and voluntary return, resettlement and reintegration process of displaced Myanmar residents”.

The joint panel was formed in line with the November 23 memorandum of understanding signed by Myanmar with Bangladesh to take back hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas who fled their homeland to escape a military crackdown.

The development came a day after UN human rights body chief Zeid Ra'ad alHussein said he would not be surprised if a court one day ruled that acts of genocide had been committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority.