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Myanmar still not allowing Rohingya to return: UN refugee chief
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Bellicose: Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, leaves after a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea on Sept. 4, 2017 in New York City. The securty council was holding its second emergency meeting in a week after North Korea announced the detonation of what it called an underground hydrogen bomb Sept. 3. (Agence France -Presse/Stephanie Keith)
M
yanmar has failed to put in place conditions for the safe return of 688,000 Rohingya refugees who fled an army crackdown six months ago, the UN refugee chief said Monday.
The refugees are sheltering in makeshift camps in Bangladesh despite an agreement reached between Myanmar and Bangladesh allowing for their return to Rakhine state.
"Let me be clear: conditions are not yet conducive to the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a Security Council meeting, speaking by videoconference from Geneva.
"The causes of their flight have not been addressed, and we have yet to see substantive progress on addressing the exclusion and denial of rights that has deepened over the last decades, rooted in their lack of citizenship."
Myanmar regards the Rohingya as immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship, even though they have been there for generations.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley urged the council to ensure Myanmar's military is held accountable for its campaign to drive out the Rohingya, and said leader Aung San Suu Kyi must recognize the atrocities.
"This council must hold the military accountable for their actions and pressure Aung San Suu Kyi to acknowledge these horrific acts are taking place in her country. No more excuses," Haley said.
The United Nations has accused Myanmar of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign by forcing the Muslim Rohingyas into exile.
China, a supporter of Myanmar's former ruling junta, called for patience and noted that "stability and order" had been restored to Rakhine state.
The Rohingya crisis "cannot be solved overnight," said Chinese Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu.
Measures should be adopted by Myanmar "to address the root cause of poverty through development" in Rakhine state, he said, sidestepping appeals for citizenship rights for the Rohingya.
- 'Too scared to return' -
The meeting came nearly three months after the council adopted a statement demanding that Myanmar rein in its security forces and allow the Rohingya to voluntarily return.
The UN refugee chief said that while the exodus of refugees had been significantly reduced, the flow "still continues," with some 1,500 refugees arriving in Bangladesh this month.
Haley said the refugees should not return to Myanmar until they feel confident that "they will not fall victim to the same horrors that drove them from their homes in the first place."
"Right now, these refugees don't have this confidence," she said. "Many are too scared to return to their country."
The UN refugee chief also raised alarm over the monsoon rainy season starting next month, warning that 100,000 refugees were living in flood-prone areas and must be urgently relocated.
International support to Bangladesh's government must be stepped up "to avert a catastrophe," he warned.
The council is demanding that aid workers be allowed to reach those displaced inside Rakhine state and wants UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to quickly appoint a special envoy to Myanmar.
