Groups urge Rohingya crisis rethink

BANGKOK: Human rights groups yesterday called on Southeast Asian leaders to rethink their approach to the Rohingya refugee crisis ahead of a regional summit in Bangkok this week.

Myanmar regards Rohingya Muslims as illegal migrants from the Indian subcontinent and has confined tens of thousands to camps in its western Rakhine State since violence swept the area in 2012.

More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh in 2017, according to UN agencies, after a crackdown by Myanmar’s military sparked by Rohingya insurgent attacks on the security forces.

The Rohingya issue, especially their repatriation from Bangladesh, is expected to be a major topic during four days of meetings among leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Thailand from tomorrow. Human rights activists say the bloc should not rush to get involved in the repatriation without addressing the root causes of their displacement.

“Asean needs to stop turning a blind eye to Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya, and cease lending legitimacy to the repatriation process,” Eva Sundari, an Indonesian lawmaker and a board member of the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said in a statement.

UN investigators have said the 2017 Myanmar military operation that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh was executed with “genocidal intent” and included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson.

Myanmar denies widespread wrongdoing and says the military campaign in the north of Rakhine State was in response to the attacks by Rohingya insurgents. But rights groups say conditions in Rakhine State are not conducive to the safe return of refugees.

“It’s preposterous for Asean leaders to be discussing the repatriation of a traumatised population into the hands of the security forces who killed, raped, and robbed them.” said Brad Adams, the Asia director of the Human Rights Watch.