Myanmar’s controversial Rohingya repatriation set to begin against backdrop of investment from China and India

Myanmar is on Thursday set to begin repatriating more than 2,000 Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh, despite the United Nations refugee agency stressing their return should be voluntary and based on the displaced group’s knowledge of conditions there.

Asean officials have condemned the plan while leaders of the other nine countries in the bloc have urged Myanmar to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

There are now nearly 900,000 refugees from Myanmar living in camps at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The UN has called for Myanmar’s senior military leaders to be prosecuted under international law for what the organisation describes as a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The organisation’s human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged Bangladesh to halt the repatriation plans amid reports of continued violations against the Rohingya.

“Forcibly expelling or returning refugees and asylum seekers to their home country would be a clear violation of the core legal principle of non-refoulement, which forbids repatriation where there are threats of persecution or serious risks to the life and physical integrity or liberty of the individuals,” Bachelet said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Malaysia’s outspoken Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had castigated Myanmar’s de facto leader for her failure to protect the Rohingya.