Tensions mount in Rohingya camps

Judicial reforms stall

GUNGDUM, Bangladesh, Jan 21, (RTRS): Tensions mounted on Sunday at refugee camps in Bangladesh holding hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims over an operation to send them back to Myanmar, from where they have fled following a military crackdown.

Dozens of refugees stood holding cloth banners opposing their transfer as United Nations Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee visited camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border over the weekend. Some refugee leaders said Bangladesh military officials had threatened to seize their food ration cards if they did not return.

Under an agreement signed last week, Myanmar is set to receive Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh at two reception centres and a temporary camp near their common border starting on Tuesday and continuing over the next two years.

The refugees refuse to go back unless their safety can be guaranteed and Myanmars grant their demands to be given citizenship and inclusion in a list of recognised ethnic minorities. They are also asking that their homes, mosques and schools that were burned down or damaged in the military operation be rebuilt.

Over 655,500 Muslim Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after the Myanmar military cracked down in the northern part of Rakhine state in response to militant attacks on security forces on Aug 25. The United Nations described the operation as ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, which Myanmar denies.

Rohingya elders told Reuters that Bangladeshi army officials have called or met them over the last two days, asking them to prepare lists of families from their camps for repatriation. Four of them said they were among more than 70 camp leaders — representing thousands of refugees — who met army officers at the Gungdum camp on Saturday.

Suu Kyi

Provide

“When we said we cannot provide the lists because people are not ready to return, they asked us to bring their WP cards,” said Musa, a leader at the Gungdum camp, referring to relief cards provided by the UN’s World Food Programme.

Rashedul Hasan, a spokesman for the Bangladesh army, said he was not aware of army men threatening to take away food cards.

Hundreds of refugees queue up at relief centres across the camps each morning to collect food using the cards. These centres are managed by the Bangladesh army.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly said Rohingya returns need to be voluntary.

“UNHCR has not been part of discussions (on repatriation) to date, but has offered support to engage in the process to ensure that the voices of refugees are heard,” Caroline Gluck, a senior protection officer for the agency, said by email on Saturday.

“The pace of returns should be determined by the refugees themselves.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of political prisoners have been released from Myanmar’s jails in amnesties in recent years, including dozens freed in January 2016, days before democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi’s party took power for the first time.

Former President Barack Obama announced the lifting of US sanctions in October 2016, citing the release of political prisoners and improved human rights as well as the elections that brought Suu Kyi to power. Suu Kyi herself had been under house arrest for 15 years before being released in 2010.

Prison reform, however, has been put on the back burner under the new government.

A new prison law was discussed in parliament in 2015, but was not passed. It has not been taken up since then by a new set of lawmakers — most of them from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) — who took their seats in early 2016.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Myanmar group formed by former detainees, says prison reform should include repealing a law that gives police broad powers of arrest and pre-trial detention.

The AAPP advocates overhauling vague or outdated rules in the Jail Manual and Penal Code, much of it written during British colonial rule.

Groups

But the AAPP and rights groups caution that any new legislation on prison reform would not stop politically motivated prosecutions, which would need to be addressed with specific judicial and legal reforms.

Suu Kyi’s government pardoned, released or dropped charges against hundreds of political prisoners in the month after it took office. But today, 46 people are serving prison sentences for political activities, and another 52 political prisoners are in jail awaiting trial, the AAPP says.

NLD Party spokesman Aung Shin told Reuters prison reform was not yet on the legislative agenda because of other priorities.

“There are so many things to do as MPs, it may be a part of the reasons for not including prison reform in the parliament discussions,” Aung Shin said. He also said, however, prisons should be part of a broader examination of legal and judicial reform that the party and legislature was planning. He did not give a time frame for any contemplated legislation.

AAPP says that 120 former political prisoners from the NLD party are members of the national parliament or regional assemblies.

“There are so many former political prisoners in the NLD party, and even in the current parliament,” said Aung Myo Kyaw, head of AAPP’s Yangon office. “It’s sad they aren’t considering this issue.” The military did not respond to requests for comment.

The home affairs ministry says it has improved prison conditions across the country. A ministry report in March said the Correctional Department had relaxed rules on family visits and improved education programs.