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News > World

Rohingya Refugees Demand Safeguards to Return to Myanmar

  • A Rohingya boy carries a child after after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh.

    A Rohingya boy carries a child after after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh. | Photo: Reuters

Published 19 January 2018
Opinion

Two demands on the list emphasize that the Rohingya people be included as one of Myanmar's ethnic minorities and be given citizenship.

A list of demands that Myanmar authorities must meet has been drawn up by Rohingya leaders in Kutupalong, a refugee camp in Bangladesh. The petition comes before the Myanmar government's plan to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya back to the state of Rakhine.

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Myanmar Could Be Responsible For Genocide Against Rohingya: UN

The repatriation process could begin next week and may last for two years, according to Reuters.

Several Rohingya elders in the refugee camp housing some 650,500 Muslim Rohingya said they would refuse to go back to Buddhist Myanmar if their demands are ignored. The elders also said that they represent 40 villages back in Rakhine state, according to Reuters.

Two demands on the list emphasize that the Rohingya people be included as one of the country's ethnic minorities and be given citizenship, a measure that has long been denied by the Myanmar government.

Other demands include the return of occupied land to Rohingya refugees, as well as the rebuilding of homes, mosques, and schools. “Innocent Rohingya” detained in counter-insurgency operations are to be released from jails and the military is to be held responsible for alleged killings, rape, and looting, according to Reuters.

While Myanmar's military claims that it has undertaken legitimate operations and denies their soldiers have participated in sexual assault against the Rohingya, the United Nations maintains that the army has conducted a classic case of ethnic cleansing.

Just last week Myanmar's military admitted to killing ten captured Muslim “terrorists” after Buddhist villagers had forced them into a grave. However, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army released a statement indicating that the Rohingya killed and placed in mass graves were “innocent civilians.”

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