A delegation from Myanmar arrived at Teknaf port in Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh on Wednesday to verify the information about Rohingyas willing to return to the Rakhine province. The delegation was led by Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Maungdaw regional director, Aung Myew. The delegation will hold a meeting with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) during its stay in Bangladesh. The delegation will meet some of the Rohingyas at the Teknaf land port who have expressed willingness to return to their homes in the Rakhine province in Myanmar.
Bangladesh has sent a list of over 8 lakh Rohingyas for repatriation to Myanmar. Out of it, 1140 were selected for repatriation. After undertaking verification, Myanmar agreed to allow 711 Rohingyas to return. The current visit is intended to verify the remaining 429 Rohingyas whose name figured in the list of people willing to be repatriated, according to the office of the RRRC.
Earlier efforts to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar have yielded no results as the Rohingyas refused to go back to Myanmar without a guarantee of safe, secure and dignified return to Rakhine. The 1982 citizenship law of Myanmar denies Rohingya rights as citizens as it allows only some ethnic groups native to Myanmar to be recognised as citizens.
Currently, more than a million Rohingya refugees are living in camps mostly in the Cox’s Bazar area. Over 30, 000 Rohingya refugees have been relocated to the newly developed camp at Bhasan Char. More than 7.5 lakh Rohingyas fled Myanmar after the Myanmar military crackdown started in August 2017.
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