Three years on, Myanmar has failed to ensure safe conditions for Rohingya return

Myanmar has failed to address the root causes of widespread abuse against Rohingyas and has refused to create the necessary conditions for their safe, dignified, and voluntary return, said Human Rights Watch in a statement today on the eve of three years completion of the Rohingya influx. 

Refugees who have spoken to the global rights watchdog overwhelmingly express a desire to return to their homes in Myanmar once it is safe; when they have citizenship and freedom of movement; and when there is genuine accountability for atrocities.

"We deeply want to go back to our country and check on our land and our animals, but it is impossible since we can't find justice," said Sheru Hatu, a refugee

"We witnessed thousands of people being killed. Bodies were floating in the river in Tula Toli, but no justice has been served," said another Rohingya, Abdul Hamid. 

In September 2019, the UN-backed International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar found that the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar "may face a greater threat of genocide than ever."

Rohingya in Rakhine State are trapped in appalling conditions, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, and cut off from access to adequate food, medical care, education, and livelihoods, HRW said. 

They are effectively denied citizenship under Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law, leaving them stateless and highly vulnerable to ongoing abuse.

In January, the International Court of Justice unanimously ruled that Myanmar is legally bound to protect Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State from genocide, and to take steps to preserve evidence of crimes. However, the Myanmar government has failed to take any concrete actions to comply with the court order, it said. 

The statement said to demonstrate compliance with the order and readiness for Rohingya to return, the Myanmar government should amend the citizenship law in line with international standards. 

It demands the authorities should immediately lift restrictions on freedom of movement, repeal discriminatory regulations and local orders, and cease all official and unofficial practices that restrict their movement and livelihoods, such as arbitrary roadblocks and extortion systems.

The government has placed restrictions on mobile internet communications across eight townships in Rakhine State, and one in neighboring Chin State, making delivery of humanitarian aid even more difficult and depriving civilians of information. 

Also, the government has not granted UN agencies and humanitarian groups unrestricted and sustained access to Rakhine State, heightening the burdens on ethnic populations in need.

The Bangladesh government has organised several official repatriation attempts that have failed because refugees have been unwilling to return, saying they feared persecution and abuse in Myanmar. The UN refugee agency has said that conditions in Rakhine State are not yet conducive to voluntary, safe, and dignified return of the Rohingya.

The New York-based right watchdog said Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have faced tightened restrictions on rights to information, movement, access to education, and health, and have been unlawfully killed by Bangladeshi security forces.

On August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military began a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims involving mass killing, rape, and arson that forced some 750,000 to flee, most to neighboring Bangladesh. 

It said Myanmar has not complied with these international justice measures issued by the International Court of Justice, has not permitted the United Nations to investigate grave crimes inside the country, nor conducted credible criminal investigations of its own into military atrocities.

"Myanmar's government should recognise that the terrible suffering it has caused the Rohingya won't disappear even amid a global pandemic," said Brad Adams, Asia director. 

"Myanmar needs to accept an international solution that provides for the safe, voluntary return of Rohingya refugees, while an understandably stretched Bangladesh should not make conditions inhospitable for refugees who have nowhere to go."