Bangladesh has considered repatriation as the most effective way to solve the Rohingya problem since the beginning and has continued all efforts accordingly since 2017. Recently, 24 Rohingyas from four families have agreed to return to Myanmar as significant progress in the repatriation process after the river receded. 24 Rohingyas have already been brought from Bhasanchar to the Kutupalong repatriation site to complete the process properly.
It is important for Bangladesh to start the repatriation process. Once it starts, it may also be accelerated. Later, necessary pressure can be applied to Myanmar in this regard. If necessary, international organizations and forces can be involved. But according to the news published in the newspaper, United Nations Refugee Agency has stopped giving food and drink to 24 Rohingya from four families who agreed to repatriate.
After this news widely spread in different newspapers, the question is coming to the fore about whether UNHCR is obstructing the repatriation process or not facilitating the repatriation process. In one such situation, the Bangladesh government summoned the Bangladesh country head of UNHCR and sought explanation in this regard. The main priority is Rohingya repatriation. Because more than one million Rohingyas have been staying here for six years.
The Rohingyas will be repatriated based on their consent but the government does not want those who want to go, to be advised or influenced otherwise. It should be noted here that on August 25, 2017, when the Rohingyas poured into Bangladesh and about 750,000 Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh, an agreement was signed with the United Nations Refugee Agency. According to that agreement, the UN refugee agency is responsible for taking care of the Rohingya as well as seeing if they want to return to Myanmar voluntarily. But it is not within the UN refugee agency’s mandate to influence the decision of any Rohingya to return to Myanmar or to discourage them from returning to Myanmar.
I think this incident will send a big message to many international and national non-governmental aid organizations working in Rohingya camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. Because there are allegations of anti-repatriation activities against many international aid organizations and many domestic private aid organizations that have been working in Rohingya camps for a long time. Those of us who work at the field level, we also witness some of these incidents. Especially when the first round of repatriation was initiated on November 15, 2018, and the second round of repatriation on August 22, 2019, many foreign and domestic NGOs are alleged to have conducted anti-repatriation campaigns among the Rohingya.
Not a single Rohingya then agreed to return to Myanmar. As a result, the first and second rounds of the Rohingya repatriation process failed. Then 2020 and 2021 passed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, when the National League for Democracy, or NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the parliamentary elections in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, took power in a bloodless military coup, the repatriation process became uncertain. After burning a lot of wood, the process of repatriation started again with the mediation of China. First, a Myanmar delegation came to Bangladesh. Talked to about 480 Rohingya in Rohingya camps.
As the Rohingyas could not trust word of mouth, a delegation of 22 members from Bangladesh visited Rakhine. Where they will be taken, where they will be kept, whether they will be given security for their lives, whether the houses and land they left in Rakhine will be returned, etc. They have seen and come to know. After returning from Rakhine, some Rohingya objected to returning there.
Their interpretation is that they will be taken back to Rakhine and housed in newly constructed camps; They will not be taken back to their abandoned homes. But some Rohingya have agreed to return to Myanmar, as they have been told they will stay in transit camps in Rakhine for the time being and be sent to their addresses later. Some people are confident in these words and some are not able to trust and that is very normal. But my point is that we should all have a positive attitude and cooperative attitude towards repatriating those who have voluntarily agreed to go and whom Myanmar has agreed to take. It is important to have a strict government policy if there is an obstacle. So, calling the head of the UN refugee agency to warn is a warning for everyone.
The writer is a freelance columnist.