UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday it was still not safe for Rohingya refugees to return to Burma, nearly five years after a crackdown sparked their mass exodus from Myanmar, neighboring Bangladesh.
“Unfortunately, the current situation across the border means conditions are not right for returns,” Michelle Bachelet told reporters in Dhaka. Some 750,000 Rohingyas fled army abuses in Burma and sought asylum in Bangladesh in 2017, where there were already more than 100,000 refugees, victims of earlier violence.
“Repatriation must be carried out voluntarily and with dignity”
The mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees survive in crowded, unsanitary camps protected by shacks made of tarps, metal sheets and bamboo. They refuse to return to Burma, which is predominantly Buddhist, until they have obtained citizenship rights. Michelle Bachelet was able to talk with them and the humanitarian organizations present at the scene.
Burma has been ruled by a military junta since its civilian government was overthrown last year. Former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was also sentenced to an additional six years in prison by a military court on Monday.
“Repatriation should always be carried out in a voluntary and dignified manner, only when safe and sustainable conditions exist in Burma,” the High Commissioner added.
Michelle Bachelet is currently on a four-day visit to Bangladesh before her term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ends at the end of the month.
Source: BFM TV
