Myanmar and Bangladesh must jointly guarantee the physical safety and security of returnees, the formal and documented recognition of those returning as Myanmar citizensA lasting plan requires careful thought, but some elements are clear. Bangladesh must ensure that any returnees are protected by independent monitoring through both the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNHCR, and with the additional support of by international civil society organisations such as Asian Centre for Human Rights, Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. Repatriations are voluntary, not forced. A joint working group on repatriation should include the displaced Rohingya community and international civil society organisations. These groups should be part of the decision-making process on individual repatriation decisions. Any credible claimant must be allowed to return, unless their case is disproved by compelling evidence from the Myanmar government. Rohingya groups fled violence and state denials of citizenship: They cannot be expected to produce documentary evidence of prior residence in the Rakhine state. It is absolutely necessary for a potential Rohingya repatriation deal to comply with international standards. Myanmar and Bangladesh must jointly guarantee the physical safety and security of returnees, the formal and documented recognition of those returning as Myanmar citizens, and the right of each Rohingya repatriated to return to their home area -- not to camps or a “buffer zone.” The states should also guarantee equal access to basic services and commit to seeking lasting resolutions of housing, land, and property issues and to increasing opportunities for sustainable livelihoods in Rakhine. Bangladesh can -- and should -- call on other governments across the world to support its efforts for a lasting solution to this crisis. Persecution of religious and ethnic minorities is a serious threat to national, regional, and global peace and stability. If Myanmar will not give these guarantees and deliver them, repatriation will be temporary at best. When danger returns, people will flee back across the border, as they have repeatedly in the past. The lives and livelihood of the Rohingya people, and the stability of the border region depends on Bangladeshi leadership. Bangladesh must again stand up for the “essence of freedom” and use it in peace to uphold the values on which the Bangladeshi nation was founded.Sumaiya Islam is a Senior Policy Officer, Open Society Justice Initiative. Simon Cox is Migration Lawyer, Open Society Justice Initiative.
Both Bangladesh and Myanmar governments have been desperately trying to come to an agreement regarding a repatriation process that the Bangladesh government hopes will lead to the return of Rohingya refugees.
To that end, a deal was struck on November 23 at a high-level ministerial meeting in Myanmar -- an “arrangement” made behind closed doors between the two governments with little public consultation and scrutiny, and without the consent and support of those most affected.
The agreement was announced despite continuing reports of atrocities being committed against the Rohingya community by Myanmar’s army. In what the UN has described as “textbook ethnic cleansing,” since August 2017, more than 600,000 Rohingya community members crossed into Bangladesh since the escalation of violence against them.
Bangladesh is clearly eager to see the refugees return, while Myanmar is keen for the international scrutiny and attention on mass rights violations to subside. Neither state yet seeks to discuss the abuses and atrocities that have led so many people to flee, nor the decades of oppression that the Rohingya have faced in Myanmar.
Without credible guarantees of their safety, and without commitments by Myanmar to address this underlying discrimination that they have faced, the Rohingya will understandably resist return.
Myanmar likes to cite an agreement it reached with Bangladesh in 1992 to arrange for the repatriation of tens of thousands of Rohingya who fled previous rounds of violence. But the 1992 agreement failed to prevent the latest, even greater wave of systematic persecution.
To avoid yet another failure -- and the death and destruction that results -- Bangladesh must talk to Rohingya communities, particularly those displaced, to understand the underlying causes of the previous failure, and to understand their needs and wishes.
The international law duties freely undertaken by Bangladesh bind the government to ensure the safety in Myanmar of any Rohingya people that it expects to return. In 1998, Bangladesh ratified the UN Convention against torture. Article 3 spells out the duty not to expel any person to another country where there is a real risk that they would be tortured.
Bangladesh widened its duties by acceding to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2000. Articles 6 and 7 require Bangladesh to protect the life of every human being and to prevent torture and inhuman treatment: Duties interpreted to prevent expulsion of people who may face death or serious harm as a result.
So, while Bangladesh has yet to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention, requiring it to grant lasting asylum to refugees of religious and ethnic persecution, these international laws bind the government from expelling the Rohingya to face a real risk of death or serious harm.
Bangladesh must therefore ensure that repatriation will not jeopardise the safety of the Rohingya community, both while they are in Bangladesh, and should they return to Myanmar. It is also clearly in Bangladesh’s interests to secure a resolution that will prevent similar chaos on its borders in the future.
The knowledge and wishes of the Rohingya must be at the heart of these solutions. They are best placed to understand the threats and risks. To propose workable solutions, Bangladesh will have to start talking and listening to the displaced people on its territory, and it must encourage Myanmar to involve the Rohingya in Rakhine in developing a lasting settlement.
