The state was where Myanmar’s military cracked down on insurgencies in 2017 that drove out 730,000 Rohingya Muslims, a minority people in Rakhine who are denied citizenship and live in apartheid-like conditions. Myanmar is currently working with ASEAN to prepare for the safe, dignified and voluntary return of refugees who had fled to Bangladesh.

The two sides agreed to pursue “low-hanging fruit” objectives after a meeting of delegates in Naypyidaw on Monday, which was attended by ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and Adelina Kamal, the executive director of the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (AHA Center), as well as ASEAN delegates and high-ranking officials from key ministries of Myanmar and Rakhine state.

Monday’s decision is based on a report by the Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT), a division of the AHA Center that was dispatched to Rakhine in March, according to a statement from the ASEAN Secretariat.

“The meeting agreed to immediately implement a number of ‘low-hanging fruit’ identified in the report,” it said after concluding the second high-level coordination meeting since December last year.

One of the practical steps identified in the report is to have an in-country ASEAN-ERAT training program based in Myanmar to support the repatriation process once it commences.

They also agreed to establish a technical working group to look at ways to implement the report’s recommendations. The group will comprise experts and representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, the AHA Center and relevant Myanmar agencies, including the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine (UEHRD) — a government agency set up to lead the domestic response to the refugee crisis.

“These practical measures would contribute to creating a conducive environment to pave the way for repatriation. The meeting also endorsed the PNA report and agreed on wider circulation of the report to better profile ASEAN’s role in supporting the government of Myanmar,” the ASEAN Secretariat said in a statement issued on its website.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the ASEAN delegation also met with Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to provide updates from the PNA report. Over the weekend, the delegation also visited Rakhine to meet with members of the state government, while the UEHRD visited a school in Sittwe built with the help of Indonesia.

Myanmar and ASEAN have previously faced criticism over the decision to appoint and expand the mandate of ASEAN’s disaster mitigation agency to address the refugee crisis, while discounting the human rights aspect for fear of exacerbating sensitive sectarian tensions in the Buddhist-majority country.

However, Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Indonesia’s representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), welcomed the progress made by the Myanmar government and AHA Center.

“The next step is to ensure the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of the returnees,” she told The Jakarta Post, adding that it was also important to include human rights principles and values in each step of the process.

“Sensitivity is the key in the process of moving from refugee camps to transit centers to [receiving centers]. A census is key to identifying the needs of babies, toddlers, children, pregnant women, the elderly, persons with disabilities and other groups that may be vulnerable in the process of moving,” she said on Tuesday.

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