Rohingya flee to avoid return to Myanmar
Repatriations are set to begin, but most have said they do not want to go back
Rohingya refugees are fleeing the camps in Bangladesh, and some have gone into hiding, out of fear of being sent back to Myanmar this week, according to aid groups.
Repatriation of the Rohingya is scheduled to begin tomorrow, but it is proving controversial, with the first batch of 4,000 “approved” refugees put on a list for return without their consent and most, if not all, have said they do not want to go back to Myanmar under current conditions.
“The authorities repeatedly tried to motivate the ones on the returning refugee list to go back. But instead, they were intimidated and fled to other camps,” said Nur Islam, from Jamtoli refugee camp.
The account was echoed by Crisis Group, who said that interviews with those in the camps “indicate that some of the refugees on the list for return have gone into hiding out of fear of being repatriated.”
More than 700,000 Rohingya have crossed over the border from Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August 2017, fleeing a violent crackdown by the military and the Buddhist locals which saw their villages razed to the ground, women raped and thousands killed.
The restrictive conditions and violence against the Muslim minority, described by the UN as ethnic cleansing, has continued since.
UNHCR have said it will not be facilitating the repatriations. In a statement on Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that before the Rohingya agree to return, they should be allowed to make “go and see” visits to Rahkine.