Rohingya repatriation deal needs revisiting

Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed an agreement for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in the wake of genocidal attacks on them by the Myanmar army and Buddhist militias sponsored by the army and the government. More than 680,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since August 25, 2017 amid reports of killing, rape, arson and looting. Doctors without Border (MSF) estimates that 13,000 Rohingyas have been slaughtered, including thousands of children, amid burning, mass rapes and killing. But the Myanmar government under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) repeatedly denied atrocities committed against the Rohingyas saying it was waging campaign against terrorist attacks on police stations in Rakhine state but the civilian toll speaks for itself. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis while visiting Jakarta last Tuesday (January 23, 2018) referring to the plight of Rohingyas and said "This is a tragedy that's worse than anything that CNN or BBC has been able to portray about what has happened to these people'' while speaking to reporters. The UN has described genocidal attacks on the Rohingyas as "a textbook case of ethnic cleansing''. The words "genocide'' and "Myanmar'' have now got entwined across the globe.

In Myanmar, from the very upper echelon of the Myanmar government led by ASSK, the army, courts, journalists, Buddhist clergy joined together to wage a concerted campaign to get rid of Rohingyas by whatever means available including genocide. They are using ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) attack on police posts in Rakhine state as a pretext to wage genocidal attacks on the Rohingyas to flee the country where they have lived for generations dating back to the 8th century. Myanmar has faced such insurgencies such as ARSA for decades and thousands of such attacks took place in various parts of the country. This is not a unique phenomenon alone in Myanmar, such insurgencies are happening in many other countries in the world. But nowhere such insurgencies, save in Myanmar, led to government-run hate campaign and policies singularly targeting a specific ethnic group to ethnically cleanse, in this case, the Rohingyas. The rise of Bamar Buddhist nationalism, which ASSK's party NLD has embraced in full earnest, is contributing to genocidal hate campaign against the Rohingyas who are overwhelmingly Muslims. Indeed, this hate campaign has now already been extended to incorporate non-Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, i.e., all Muslims regardless of their ethnicity.

In Myanmar we are now dealing with a political regime in cahoot with the army led by a leader who, despite her liberal western education, is completely incapable of understanding let alone practising or advocating concepts such as basic human rights, pluralism, multiculturalism and an open and engaging society. Instead ASSK has fully embraced the idea of radical ultra Bamar Buddhist nationalism with its full fury to ethically cleanse her country of the Rohingyas.

The Rohingyas, who have fled from their homes in the face of genocidal attacks carried out by the Myanmar army and state-sponsored Buddhist militias, must have the right to return to their homes in Northern Rakhine state. To say otherwise would be to concede to those inhumane and brutal forces who have burned, raped and killed even children. The international community must ensure that Rohingya refugees return to their homes with dignity which invariably requires recognition of their ethnicity with full citizenship rights and the security of their lives and property. This is the bottom line and this is not negotiable. Anything short of fulfilling these conditions will lead to the continuation of the crisis affecting the lives of 2.0 million people.

The agreement signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar to repatriate Rohingya refugees appears to be similar to one signed between the two countries in 1992. The agreement stipulated the repatriation process to begin by the 23rd January, 2018 but nothing seems have happened till now. According to press reports from Dhaka as of January 25, 2018, refugees are still streaming into Bangladesh and fire and gunshots are heard in Rakhine. Unsurprisingly the Myanmar regime instead of using this opportunity to take back the Rohingyas as a mini-redemption, is still continuing with its murder, rape and arson to pursue its ethnic cleansing policy. Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch rightly pointed out "Burma has yet to end its military abuses against the Rohingya, let alone create conditions that would allow them to return home safely''.

It is clearly evident that the deal is primarily a public relation exercise by the Myanmar government, particularly when its leader ASSK and senior generals are facing strong possibility of charges being laid against them of committing genocide and crimes against humanity. Even the military now have admitted that its soldiers murdered 10 Rohingyas whose bodies were found in a mass grave in a village called Inn Din by two Myanmar journalists who now face charges of treason. ASSK to show her leadership in the face being charged for genocide and crimes against humanity asked the military to investigate into the deaths. Neither ASSK nor the military had said what actions would be taken against those responsible for the massacre in Inn Din. The investigation is being conducted by the same General who had conducted a previous probe into the conduct of troops in the conflict and concluded no atrocities had taken place.

Even in a rare moment of semi-truth by the army, these murdered Rohingyas were portrayed as terrorists. The mass grave in Inn Din was described by James Gomez, Amnesty International's South East Asia Chief, as " only the tip of the iceberg'' of known and yet unknown atrocities and war crimes committed. John Sifton of Human Rights Watch said that it was not that human remains were lying around everywhere. He further added that there were reasons to believe that the authorities had disposed of human remains.

ASSK in her typical way even set a 10-member panel to advise her on the "Rakhine Issue'' but not on the Rohingya crisis. Now one of the panel members Bill Richardson, a former Clinton Administration cabinet member and also a veteran US diplomat, has resigned from the panel calling it a "whitewash'' and questioning ASSK's "moral leadership''. He further went on to say "The advisory board is mainly a whitewash and a cheerleading operation for the Myanmar government and I am not going to be part of it because I think there are serious issues of human rights violations, safety, citizenship, peace and stability that need to be addressed''. He also added that ASSK is living in a "bubble'' and that gives a very rare insight into her thinking seen from a very close proximity. That does not mean that she does not have members in the panel to do her bidding; in fact, most of the remaining members will be happy to oblige her. Her complete dishonesty of purpose is so evident, the international community will find it impossible to believe anything she says.

Under the circumstances, the repatriation deal as agreed with Myanmar is not going to resolve the crisis let alone can ensure safe and voluntary return of Rohingya refugees. Myanmar conducted the negotiation in bad faith to buy time to soothe the mounting international pressure. This is a regime that can not be trusted on its own words. That requires any deal to repatriate the refugees must have the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a party to the deal.

Also voluntary repatriation must be preceded by the Myanmar government's total commitment to recognise the ethnicity claim and granting of full citizenship as well as to ensure full respect for Rohingyas' human rights and security. Implementation of these guarantees must have to be underwritten by the UN. Once those conditions are fulfilled, those who volunteer to return, must return to their homes in their own villages, not to camps even for a day. Many refugees are second or third time refugees and they are anxious that they do not have to be refugee again on return to Rakhine.

Myanmar Officials are talking about putting returned Rohingyas in "camps'' . This proposition must totally be rejected because these Rohingyas have had their homes in Rakhine and that's where they will go straight from the refugee camps in Bangladesh. Many refugees, who decided to return to Myanmar after previous anti-Rohingya violence years ago, are still in camps. These camps operate in effect like concentration camps where these helpless Rohinyas are tortured, raped and murdered by the feared Myanmar army and the Buddhist militias.

There are critical flaws in the current repatriation agreement and these flaws can only be remedied by the participation of the UNHCR in drafting the revised repatriation agreement. That does not preclude other relevant UN organisations and NGOs to get involved in ensuring safe and voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees with full dignity.

The writer is an independent economic

and political analyst.

[email protected]