Seventy percent Rohingyas doubtful of Myanmar govt recognising their rights

About 70 per cent of the Rohingyas living in various camps in Bangladesh do not believe that the Myanmar government would eventually recognise their rights, a new study on repatriation of the refugees has revealed.

About 98 per cent of the respondents are scared of returning to Myanmar.

Almost all of them (98.98 per cent) believed that they would face discrimination upon their return.

However, 30 per cent of them were more optimistic.

Men were more pessimistic than women in general (87 per cent of men compared to 55 per cent of women).

Xchange Foundation conducted the survey during April-May period of 2018.

Statements of over 1,700 Rohingya refugees during the survey were collected in Cox's Bazar of Bangladesh.

The report of the survey was published in May this year.

There was a large disparity between camps over the belief that their rights will be recognised in Myanmar if they return; overall, interviewees from the south (Nayapara (98.6 per cent), Jadimura (96 per cent), Shamlapur (85 per cent), Baghonna (98 per cent) were pessimistic, with more than four in five respondents believing that the Myanmar government would never recognise their rights.

In Chakmarkul and Unchiprang, however, more respondents believed their rights would be recognised (52 per cent and 54 per cent of each camp's respondents respectively).

Overall, 97.5 per cent of the Rohingya population would consider returning to Myanmar.

Almost all the respondents (99 per cent), however, mentioned that they would go back only if certain conditions were met, with the majority mentioning citizenship of Myanmar with acknowledgement that they are Rohingyas, freedom of movement and religion, and their rights and dignity restored.

About 62 per cent of respondents believed that the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar were not cooperating well on the situation of the Rohingyas.

Women were divided equally on this matter, whereas 76 per cent of the male respondents believed that the cooperation is inadequate.

Bangladeshi experts, however, think that the proposal of Myanmar to keep Rohingya refugees in the temporary reception and transit camps fearing Myanmar's fraudulence regarding sending them to the main land ever.

The Bangladesh authority has found that only one transit camp was constructed there until August while there was no visible progress in repatriation process.

Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of international relations of Dhaka University suggests that the Bangladesh government totally ignore the matter of camps or temporary settlements.

He laid emphasis on enactment of a new law or amendment to the law by which the citizenship of the Rohingyas can be ensured, their rights are recognised after a certain timeline.

Referring to the international pressure on Myanmar regarding the genocide and crime against humanity, he said the construction of the camps is not important, rather Bangladesh should be active in the repatriation issue after the national polls.

The prospect of returning to Myanmar has been a central theme running throughout research.

Data collected in the Rohingya survey conducted in 2017 showed that 78 per cent of respondents would return to Myanmar if the security, welfare and/or political situation improved, 16 per cent would not under any circumstances, and 6.0 per cent would return unconditionally.

Soon after the expulsion of Rohingyas from Rakhine state began last year, the Bangladeshi and Myanmar governments agreed to begin a two-year process to return over 770,000 individuals, predominantly Rohingya Muslims, who had fled Rakhine State since October 2016.

The first 1,200 returnees were set to do so on 23 January 2018.

In the run-up to the first Rohingya repatriation, the Myanmar government has constructed two reception centres and a temporary camp close to the border in Rakhine.

On January 22, 2018, however, Dhaka delayed the repatriation, amid a torrent of criticism that such returns were deeply premature, as refugees continued to trickle across the border seeking safety in Bangladesh.

In April 2018, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by UNHCR and the government of Bangladesh established a framework of cooperation between the UNHCR and Bangladesh for the "safe, voluntary, and dignified returns of refugees in line with international standards".

A tripartite deal between Bangladesh, Myanmar and the UNHCR is still in progress, making the future of the Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh uncertain.

However, many respondents shared their concern regarding repatriation. In another Snapshot Survey, conducted in January and February of 2018 of Xchange Foundation, a small number of respondents stated unequivocally that they would not return to Myanmar because of the traumas they had experienced there.

The Xchange Foundation study said that the recent repatriation deal failed to consult the Rohingya.

It failed to outline what condition they may face upon their return or include guarantees for the provision of basic rights, including citizenship, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, and right to employment, among other factors, which would leave the Rohingyas' situation upon return no different in practice from the persecution they had just fled.