Bangladesh has considered repatriation 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 a sign of significant progress in the repatriation process after the river has receded, and 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, and once it starts, maybe it can be accelerated. Later, the necessary pressure can be applied to Myanmar in this regard. If necessary, international organisations and forces can be involved. But according to the news published in the newspaper, UNHCR, or the United Nations Refugee Agency, has stopped giving food and drink to 24 Rohingya from four families who agreed to repatriate. After these news stories are widely spread in different newspapers, the question is coming to the fore: whether UNHCR is obstructing or not facilitating the repatriation process, or whether they can do it! In one such situation, the Bangladesh government summoned the Bangladesh country head of UNHCR and sought their explanation in this regard. The government of Bangladesh made it clear that UNHCR should work within its mandate. Bangladesh’s main priority is Rohingya repatriation, said an official who was quoted in the newspaper on condition of anonymity. More than 1 million Rohingyas have been staying here for six years. We are trying to send a small group as part of the pilot project. We want everyone involved in this work, including international organisations, to help.
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. We called the Bangladesh head of the UN Refugee Agency to remind him of his mandate and to act according to the agreement. 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 and the Bangladesh government. 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. The Bangladesh government has reminded them of this.
I think this incident will send a big message to many international and national non-governmental aid organisations working in Rohingya camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. Because there are allegations of anti-repatriation activities against many international aid organisations and many domestic private aid organisations that have been working in Rohingya camps for a long time. Those of us who work at the field level 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 and talked to about 480 Rohingya in Rohingya camps and answered their various questions. 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, and that is very normal. But my point is that we should all have a positive attitude and a 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.
Finally, here is a big issue for Bangladesh: Bangladesh has sheltered about 11 lakh Rohingyas in 34 temporary camps for the last six years and faced many problems and crises, but not a single Rohingya has been forcibly sent back to Myanmar. Such behaviour by the United Nations Refugee Agency (not providing food to 24 members of four Rohingya families!) on the eve of the implementation of a pilot project to start repatriation through various bilateral and multilateral negotiations under all international regulations is not acceptable (although they have denied it). Although there are different international geopolitical calculations for this China-mediated repatriation process and different grammars of regional hegemony (which will be discussed in another article), we want at least the beginning of Rohingya repatriation. I wish a voluntary, dignified, and safe repatriation of Rohingyas!