DHAKA: Exiled Rohingya refugees forced to flee their homes in Myanmar
one year ago have revealed their greatest fear — losing their identity.
More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled the destruction, violence and
persecution in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine province since August 2017,
with many settling in refugee camps at Cox’s Bazaar in neighboring
Bangladesh.
The Rohingyas’ plight — described as a “journey of pain” — has developed
into the world’s worst refugee crisis, according to the UN.
Recent talk of an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar to allow
repatriation of the Rohingya has done little to ease refugees’ fears.
“Before repatriation we need to be recognized as Rohingya and as
citizens of Myanmar,” Mohammed Nurul Islam, 50, a refugee in Balukhali
since last September, said.
“I have heard about the repatriation plans, but they do not make me feel safe.”
Rohingya community leaders have also rejected an agreement between the UN and Myanmar for the return of the refugees.
Leaders said the deal failed to address their concerns and they would not help in the repatriation process.
“The agreement is on the issue of return of the Rohingya to their homes.
Strangely, they did not bother to consult the Rohingya community. There
is no commitment from the Burmese government to fulfil our key demands
as a precondition for our safe return. It is against the interest of the
Rohingya,” a Rohingya spokesman said.
One year has passed since this crisis began, but the refugee influx from
Myanmar has yet to stop. Bangladeshi authorities said that since
January this year, as many as 12,000 Rohingyas crossed the border into
Bangladesh.
“Refugees are still coming, but irregularly and in small numbers,” Abul
Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee, relief and repatriation commissioner, told
Arab News.
The Bangladesh government said it has no precise understanding with
Myanmar authorities on when and how the repatriation will take place.
“We have taken all the necessary steps demanded by Myanmar. Now it’s
Myanmar’s role to create a conducive environment for the repatriation of
the Rohingya,” said Delwar Hossain, director-general of the Bangladesh
foreign ministry.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Myanmar to finalize repatriation
plans last November. According to the deal, repatriation was expected to
get begin within two months.
Bangladesh later handed a list of about 8,000 Rohingyas to the Myanmar
authority, but Myanmar said it lacked proof of a voluntary return by the
refugees.
A series of meetings between both countries has failed to end the impasse.
“We don’t understand what the (Myanmar) view is in terms of Rohingya
repatriation. During our recent visit to Myanmar (Aug. 9–11), Myanmar
authorities told us that they wanted to start the repatriation, but
things still are not moving forward,” Hossain said.
Amid the uncertainty, the UN children’s fund UNICEF has warned of a
“lost generation” of Rohingya who lack the life skills they will need in
future.
Half a million youngsters were at risk of “falling prey to despair,” said Simon Ingram, a UNICEF senior communication adviser.
“Now they are starting to wonder, ‘What next?’” he said. “They are
starting to ask what sort of future they really have, and that is where a
new level of anxiety and fear starts to come in.”
Inside Cox’s Bazaar, 1,200 centers provide education for 140,000
children, although there are few learning opportunities for those above
14 years of age.
“If we don’t make the investment in education now, we face the real
danger of seeing a lost generation of Rohingya children,” said Adde
Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF’s Bangladesh representative.
Meanwhile, Asma Begum, a Rohingyan refugee in Kutupalang camp, said
refugees needed to be recognized as Rohingya before repatriation. “We
need guarantees that our lives are not under threat.
“We need to go back to Rakhine, but can the UN give us protection?” Asma asked.
On Friday, Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, said: “The horrific
stories of suffering I have heard remain vivid in my memory. A year has
passed; we must act globally to stop this crisis.”
‘Ethnic cleansing’ author demands justice for exiles
The world has failed Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, according to the author
of a book on their plight, a year after the attacks that led to almost a
million refugees fleeing their homes and seeking sanctuary in
Bangladesh. “The international community has done nothing to repatriate
more than 700,000 Rohingyas who were forcibly removed by the Myanmar
military,” Azeem Ibrahim, author of “The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s
Hidden Genocide,” told Arab News on Saturday.
“No efforts were made to apprehend or bring the perpetrators of the
genocide to justice, and the international community has again failed
the Rohingya in catastrophic fashion,” Ibrahim (pictured) said. The
violence against the minority Myanmar Rohingya began on Aug. 25, 2017,
after a series of attacks on Myanmar police stations by a small Rohingya
militant group killed a dozen security personnel. In retaliation, the
country’s military and Buddhist mobs launched waves of attacks, killing
people and emptying villages in what many in the international community
see as a calculated attempt to drive the Rohingya from the country.
Many doubt they will ever be able to return despite extended talks
between Myanmar, Bangladesh, the UN and international aid agencies.
Speaking from the US before attending a rally to commemorate the “black
day” in the Rohingyas’ minority history, Ibrahim said he hopes to draw
attention to the plight of the Rohingya trapped in refugee camps. “The
ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya was not an isolated event,” he said.
“The Myanmar military, as is common for all perpetrators of genocides
and crimes against humanity, undertook a test run of their planned major
atrocities in October 2016, when armed Buddhist militia supported by
Myanmar military expelled more than 140,000 Rohingya from their villages
and towns with hardly any reaction from the international community
apart from listing a few generals on an international travel ban list.”
When confronted with the violence perpetrated against the Rohingya,
Myanmar prime minister Aung San Suu Kyi sided with her generals and
refused to acknowledge the crimes, he said. “The Rohingya have lost
faith in the international system and are calling for their case to be
taken up by the International Criminal Court
so that the perpetrators of genocide can be brought to justice,” Ibrahim
said. The author said that the Myanmar Citizens Act of 1982 paved the
way for “ethnic and religiously motivated violence, and the final
removal of all Rohingya from Myanmar.”
According to the author, the root of the Buddhist-Muslim clashes in
Myanmar has its roots in the Japanese invasion of the country during
World War II, when the Buddhist majority population sided with the
Japanese. “Only the minority Muslim Rohingya stayed loyal to the British
rulers of the time and have been since persecuted at various
intervals.”
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