Rohingya repatriation, relocation plans pushed back to 2019 after failed first attempt and protests
- Bangladesh and Myanmar in October agreed to begin returning hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, but the plan failed amid fears for peoples’ safety
- Refugee relief officials say they are trying to meet demands for justice, citizenship and the ability to go back to original villages and lands
Bangladesh’s plans to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis have been stalled until the new year with repatriation and relocation programmes only likely to be revisited following year-end general elections, a top Bangladeshi official said on Sunday.
Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Reuters “a new course of action” needed to be adopted on repatriation that took into account refugees’ key demands.
Rohingya refugees say soldiers and Buddhist civilians killed families, burned many villages and carried out gang rapes. UN-mandated investigators have accused Myanmar’s army of “genocidal intent” and ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has denied almost all the accusations, saying its forces engaged in a counter-insurgency operation against “terrorists”.
In late October, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed to begin to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled, but the plan has been opposed by the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the UN refugee agency and aid groups, who fear for the safety of Rohingya in Myanmar.