Rohingya leader: Grateful to Bangladesh, want to return to Arakan

Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Desk
Publish : 21 Feb 2025

The Rohingya community in Ukhiya, Coxs Bazar, observed International Mother Language Day, honoring linguistic heritage and unity, on Friday, February 21, 2025. Photo: Bangla Tribune

International Mother Language Day 2025 was observed at the Rohingya camp in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar.

To mark the occasion, a gathering was held on Friday morning at Block C of Camp 9 in Palongkhali union.

The event began with a tribute to the martyrs of the 1952 Language Movement. Religious leaders, teachers, youth activists, and Rohingya leaders delivered speeches during the program.

Tokyo wants dignified return of Rohingyas to Myanmar

Dhaka Tribune
UNB
Publish : 08 Oct 2023,

The undated image shows the view of the Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar. Photo: Collected

 

Japan wants a dignified return of forcibly displaced Rohingyas, now sheltered in Bangladesh, to their homeland, Myanmar.

Current Crisis In Myanmar Shouldn’t Impede Return Of Rohingya – OpEd

eurasiareview
By Brig Gen (Retd) Hasan Md Shamsuddin
September 18, 2023 

A Rohingya man walks inside Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Photo Credit: BenarNews

 

Myanmar is passing through a critical time due to unrest and conflict between the government and the anti-junta forces. There are no indications that the current violence in Myanmar will stop; instead, it is getting more organized every day.

Rohingya Say No Return to Myanmar Without Guaranteed Citizenship

VOA
Shaikh Azizur Rahman
September 13, 2023

A Rohingya girl collects leaves from a vegetable plant in the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Aug 28, 2023. Over 1.2 million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh since fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar. (Noor Hossain for VOA)

Members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya community living as refugees in Bangladesh are again voicing opposition to efforts to repatriate many of them. They say that the Myanmar government has not met their demands over citizenship rights and that it is not safe for them to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Burma prepares the return, from mid-April, of a thousand Rohingya refugees

UK Daily News
Jason MooreMarch 22, 2023

A Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, June 2018. WONG MAYE-E / AP PHOTO

Burma has said it is ready for the return, from mid-April, of a thousand Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh under a pilot repatriation programme, a spokesman for the ruling junta said. Zaw Min Tun, Wednesday, March 22. “We will welcome the returning population in accordance with the agreement between the two countries”he said, adding that the first repatriation would concern “about a thousand people”.

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.

US Under Secretary of State asks Myanmar to ensure safe return of Rohingyas

Star Online Report 

October 28, 2020 

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale

 

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale has pressed Myanmar to end conflicts and secure return of the Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh.

"Under Secretary Hale pressed the Burmese government to end conflict across the country and secure the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya and other refugees and internally displaced persons," according to a readout of the US State Department.

Home minister: Malaysia sent Rohingya boat away with food as borders closed due to Covid-19

malaymail 

Thursday, 30 Apr 2020 BY IDA LIM

A boat carrying suspected ethnic Rohingya migrants is seen detained in Malaysian territorial waters, in Langkawi April 5, 2020. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Malaysian authorities turned away a boat with ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar only after providing them with food to continue their journey elsewhere, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said today.

Hamzah was referring to a recent news report of the Royal Malaysian Navy intercepting a boat carrying about 200 Rohingya that was spotted 70 nautical miles away from Langkawi, with the crew of a navy ship providing food to them on humanitarian grounds before ensuring the boat left the country’s waters.

Dhaka, Rome stress intense cooperation between EU, Bangladesh

Prothum Alo------ 

Feb 06, 2020

 Prime minister Sheikh Hasina holds a bilateral meeting with her Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte at Palazzo Chigi, the official residence of the Italian prime minister, in Rome, Italy on 5 February 2020. Photo: PID

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has sought continued support of the European Union (EU) including Italy to ensure safe, dignified and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas.

“The Bangladesh prime minister also expressed thanks to the EU including Italy for their support to the cause of the Rohingyas,” said a nine-point joint statement issued on the outcomes of bilateral talks between Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in Rome on Wednesday.

Hasina seeks EU support for Rohingya return to Myanmar

Prokerala
By IANS
Fri, Feb 7 2020

Refugees in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, in July, 2018. (Photo: UN/IANS). Image Source: IANS News

Dhaka, Feb 7 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought continued support of the European Union (EU) to ensure safe, dignified, and sustainable return of the displaced Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, a media report said on Friday. 

"The Bangladesh Prime Minister thanked the EU members, including Italy, for their support to the cause of the Rohingya," The Daily Star newspaper quoted a joint statement issued on Thursday after talks between Hasina and her Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in Rome, as saying.

Return to Rakhine

The Daily Star
December 19, 2019
Diplomatic Correspondent

Myanmar-Asean team urges refugees

A joint delegation of Myanmar and the Asean yesterday met a group of some 40 Rohingya representatives to convince them to return to Rakhine, from where they fled a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

The 15-member delegation includes nine officials from Myanmar and six officials from the Emergency Response and Assessment team of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Myanmar is 'ready' for the return of Rohingya

Bankok Post

Larry Jagan  

COLUMNIST

24 Oct 2019

 

Myanmar wants the Rohingya refugees to return, and preparations have been made to receive them, according to the minister in charge of the process. "We will accept them back anytime," said Dr Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

"Whoever wants to come back voluntarily, we can accept," he said.

He also urged Bangladesh to immediately return the 400 or more Hindu refugees who have agreed to be repatriated, as this could help kick-start the stalled repatriation programme.

‘The sooner they return, the better for Bangladesh’

The Daily Star
October 17, 2019
UNB, Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday stressed the need for quick repatriation of the displaced Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State of Myanmar.

The sooner they go back, the better it is for Bangladesh if she said.

The PM came up with the remark when a seven-member delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) met her at her official residence Gono Bhaban.

Rohingya Muslims return to “safety”: A regional approach

ORF 
Observer Research Foundation
Sreeparna Banerjee
Raisina Debates
Oct 03 2019

Rohingya displaced Muslims

 

 

 

Myanmar and Bangladesh were supposed to renew efforts in August to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who had fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. On the fateful day of 22 August, as the world braced itself to witness the return of Rohingyas to their former land, not a single displaced person turned up. Incidentally, last week 14 families comprising of 27 men, women, and children out of the 3,540, cleared for return by the Myanmar government, had arrived at Nga Khu Ya reception camp in Maungtaw, Rakhine State. Though the second repatriation effort has slowly started facing a positive direction, the number of returnees remains quite low. It thus, becomes imperative to examine the factors behind the continuous failure of the efforts made by both the governments to repatriate the displaced individuals.

Myanmar must be ‘accommodative’ to convince Rohingyas to go back, says Bangladesh FM

bdnews24.com
Senior Correspondent
bdnews24.com

23 Aug 2019 

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has called on Myanmar to be “accommodative” towards the demands of Rohingyas so that they get the confidence to return home.

“We are still hopeful,” he said on Friday, a day after a second failed attempt to start the repatriation of Rohingyas, two years after 700,000 Myanmar nationals fled ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the Rakhine State and took shelter in Cox’s Bazar.

Rohingya refugees refuse to return to Myanmar without rights guarantee

The Guardian
Hannah Ellis-Petersen 

Shaikh Azizur Rahman

Wed 21 Aug 2019 

Families chosen for repatriation are too scared to return and fear not being given citizenship

Rohingya children in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. None of the families interviewed about repatriation wanted to return to Myanmar. Photograph: Allison Joyce/Getty Images 

Plans to begin repatriating the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled ethnic cleansing in Rahkine state in 2017 look likely to fail once again, with the refugees refusing to go back to Myanmar voluntarily.

Over 3,000 Rohingya were placed on a list of refugees and approved for repatriation as part of a fresh attempt by the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to start sending back some of the more than one million refugees living in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Rohingya Crisis: Ensure safety of returning refugees

The Daily Star

June 24, 2019

Says Mahathir, suggests int’l supervision during repatriation

International monitoring bodies must ensure that Rohingya refugees who return to Myanmar are not exposed to any danger, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday.

“The views of the Rohingya must be sought before the repatriation of the refugees as they are living in fear.

“They are scared to return to Rakhine State. The international bodies must monitor and ensure the refugees are treated well and that the situation is safe if they choose to return to Myanmar.

For Rohingya Refugees, There’s No Return in Sight

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Meenakshi Ganguly South Asia Director 
Brad Adams Asia Director

 Rohingya refugee girls cross a makeshift bamboo bridge at Kutupalong refugee camp, where they have been living amid uncertainty over their future after they fled Myanmar to escape violence a year ago, in Bangladesh on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

The Rohingya Muslims have faced persecution in Myanmar for decades. And yet no violence in their recent history has compared to that which the Myanmar military inflicted in August 2017. After militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked police and army posts in northwestern Rakhine State on August 25, the military responded by killing thousands of Rohingya civilians, raping hundreds of Rohingya women and girls, and burning entire villages to the ground. In the course of a little more than three months, more than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee for their lives to Bangladesh. Myanmar authorities claimed they had conducted a “clearance operation” to rid the country of militants. In reality, they were fulfilling a long-standing dream of Myanmar’s Buddhist nationalists: the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims.

Will the Rohingyas ever return to Myanmar?

The Daily Star   

Mahmood Hasan

May 24, 2019

Rohingya refugees gather near the fence in the ‘no man’s land’ between Myanmar and Bangladesh. PHOTO: PHYO HEIN KYAW/AFP

Since the massive exodus of Rohingyas from Rakhine to Bangladesh in 2017, a lot has been written and said about the plight of these unfortunate people. After nearly two years, it appears that the outraged world community has forgotten about this persecuted ethnic minority.

Survey: Most Rohingyas willing to return home with conditions met

Dhaka Tribune
Bilkis Irani
Published at  April 30th, 2019

This photo taken recently shows a makeshift rohingya camp in cox’s Bazar Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

None of the Rohingyas want to be relocated to Bhasan Char

A total of 67% of the Rohingya refugee community currently living in Bangladesh are willing to return to their homes in Myanmar if the authorities there meet certain conditions, a Brac survey has found.

Brac found that none of the Rohingya population wants to be relocated to Bhashan Char either, from the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar where they are currently sheltered.