U.N. andMyanmar sign deal to resettle Rohingya refugees
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 flfled their homes for neighboring Bangladesh after a brutal military campaign last year.
The Burmese 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 United Nations has celebrated it as amajor fifirst step that would help secure the future of the Rohingya in Myanmar, alsocalledBurma.
But no outside observers are able to verify the claims: Theagreementhasbeenkept unusually secret.
The three parties that signed thememorandumof
understanding— the U.N. refugee agency, orUNHCR; the U.N. Development Program; andtheBurmesegovernment — have declined tomake the text of the agreement available tothosewhohave asked to see it, including journalists, other U.N. offifficials and U.N. 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 “conditions for RohingyainMyanmarremain appalling,” referring to Burma by its offifficial name. A statement fromabout two dozen Rohingya organizations across the world also raised concerns about keeping the text secret.
“All previous records showed that 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 theMyanmar authorities who are characterized by cheating and brutality.”
AWesterndiplomatclosely following the negotiations said the United Nations has withheld the text of the agreement at the request of theBurmesegovernmentand called the lack of transparency“problematic.” Thediplomat, who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, spoke onthe condition of anonymity. Aspokesmanfor theBurmese government could not be reached for comment.
In response to questions from TheWashington Post, Knut Ostby, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said the UNHCR, UNDP and Myanmar’s government are in “discussion about publicly releasing the contents of the MoU.”
“Such a decision would require consent of all three parties,” he added.