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.

Northern Rakhine refugees resist relocation to Bangladesh island.

MYANMAR TIMES
KYODO | 24 APR 2019

Bangladesh is facing a dilemma over the planned transfer of thousands of Muslims from northern Rakhine State crowded into makeshift camps along the country’s border with Myanmar to an uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal.

To ease social, economic, environmental and internal security hazards, the government plans to relocate nearly 100,000 refugees from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char, which is about an hour by motor boat from the nearest shore.