Free Rohingya Coalition decries pushing refugees back out to sea

The Daily Star

Star Online Report
April 29, 2020

A boat carrying suspected ethnic Rohingya migrants is seen detained in Malaysian territorial waters, in Langkawi, Malaysia on April 5, 2020. File Photo: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/Handout via Reuters

Pushing hundreds of starving and persecuted Rohingya refugees back out to the sea in the full knowledge that they have no safe place of refuge elsewhere are fundamental violations of their human rights, said Free Rohingya Coalition, a global network of Rohingya survivors and activists, today.

It said it is deeply troubled by the news reports that a number of Asian countries, specifically Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh, are pushing starving Rohingya refugees on boats back out to dangerous waters after refusing disembarkation on their shores.

Rohingya suspicious as Myanmar touts repatriation plan

Al Jazeera

by Joshua Carroll
 30th July 2019

Refugees in Cox's Bazar question Myanmar motives amid Rakhine unrest, but some see 'breakthrough' in repatriation talks.

More than 700,00 Rohingya were forced to flee northern Rakhine in Myanmar following a brutal military crackdown in 2017 [File: Anadolu/Masfiqur Sohan]

Yangon, Myanmar - When a team of top Myanmar officials met Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar over the weekend, they handed out flyers aimed at persuading members of the persecuted minority to return home two years after fleeing a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

With its happy cartoon figures and its promise of a return "to normal life," the brochure paints a rosy picture for refugees who agree to be repatriated to Buddhist-majority Myanmar on the government's terms.

Rohingya reject Myanmar's 'foreign citizen' offer

AA

By SM Najmus Sakib 

29.07.2019 

DHAKA, Bangladesh

With Myanmar officials considering calling Rohingya “foreign citizen,” the persecuted people are demanding full citizenship, ethnic rights, and international protection before repatriation.

Myint Thu, Myanmar’s foreign affairs permanent secretary, said at a meeting with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh that Myanmar’s government will consider the Rohingya “foreign nationals,” local daily The Daily Star reported on Monday.

Activists welcome UN's financial boycott of Myanmar

AA

Md. Kamruzzaman | 

15.05.2019

UN panel recommend bringing Myanmar’s military commanders before credible court for trial

DHAKA

Rohingya activists and their international supporters have welcomed and endorsed the UN panel's call for the withdrawal of financial and other supports to Myanmar and fair trial of its military commanders on charges of war crime and genocide.

Rohingya crisis: Volunteers document survivor stories

Aljazeera
by Stefanie Dekker
2019 March 21
A group of young Rohingya refugees speak up and fight for justice.

The International Criminal Court is looking into whether the persecution of the Rohingya by Myanmar’s government warrants an investigation.

A group of young Rohingya refugees say they've been fighting for justice ever since they fled along with hundreds of thousands in August 2017.