Myanmar team returns after interviewing 480 Rohingyas

NEWAGE

Published: Mar 23,2023 

Officials from Myanmar’s immigration and population ministries left Bangladesh on Wednesday after interviewing around 480 Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar as part of a plan for possible repatriation to their country.

The 17-member Myanmar delegation, led by Aung Myo, the social welfare minister for Rakhine State, started interviewing Rohingyas, who are currently living in Cox’s Bazar camps, on March 15.

Aung Myo also represented Rakhine State’s immigration and population department, said the officials, adding that the delegation was selecting members for a pilot ‘family-based repatriation’ project.

‘They have interviewed 480 Rohingyas…,’ said Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar.

The Myanmar regime cleared 711 Rohingyas out of 1,140 recommended by Bangladesh, while they were set to interview 429 Rohingyas, who were initially rejected.

The initial number was 429, but many families got additional members because of their marriages,’ Mizanur told New Age.

Asked about the process of beginning repatriation, the RRRC said no such declaration had come from them.

Bangladesh and Myanmar began the repatriation process in 2018, but none has returned so far.

On March 16, Bangladesh foreign ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin said at the weekly media briefing in Dhaka that the Myanmar authorities’ process to verify the Rohingyas was very slow.

Before the visit, the Myanmar junta took diplomats from Bangladesh, India, China, and five other countries to Rakhine State in the past week and expressed an interest in launching Rohingya repatriation.

On March 13, Yang Xiaokun, the rights chief at the Chinese foreign affairs ministry, called foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen to discuss human rights and the Rohingya crisis, among other issues.

Amid the situation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement on March 19 that they were aware of the visit of a Myanmar delegation to Bangladesh to meet with a group of refugees on a bilateral pilot project between the two countries on possible returns.

‘UNHCR is not involved in these discussions’ the statement read.

‘UNHCR’s position on returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar remains unchanged. In UNHCR’s assessment, conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are currently not conducive to the sustainable return of Rohingya refugees.’

‘At the same time, we reiterate that every refugee has a right to return to their home country based on an informed choice, but that no refugee should be forced to do so.

‘Bangladesh has consistently reaffirmed its commitment to voluntary and sustainable repatriation since the onset of the current crisis.’

The UNHCR said in their statement that they considered the consultation with Rohingya refugees and dialogue by all parties in relation to the conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State important to enabling refugees to make an informed choice about returning and to build confidence among the community.

‘This is particularly important as many refugees have reiterated that they do hope to go home to Myanmar as soon as conditions allow,’ it said.

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