Conditions not yet in place for safe Rohingya returns: UNHCR

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 (APP):The conditions in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns of more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees who fled violence to Bangladesh since late August, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has said.
UNHCR said it had still not seen a repatriation agreement signed by the two countries recently, but stressed that any returns by the traumatized group must be safe and voluntary.
A UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva “It is important that international standards apply, and we are ready to help.”
“To ensure the right of refugees to return voluntarily, and in safety and in dignity, we call again on Myanmar to allow the necessary unhindered humanitarian access in Rakhine State and create conditions for a genuine and lasting solution,” Edwards said.
“Access would allow for assessment of the actual conditions and the long-term viability of the returns, as well as help address the legitimate safety concerns for any refugees contemplating their return there,” he emphasized.
In addition, refugees also need to be properly informed and consulted about such conditions in order for returns to be safe, voluntary and sustainable, the UNHCR spokesperson added.
Also vital is the full implementation of the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission [a panel led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan], including the call for peace and security for all communities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, inter-communal dialogue, freedom of movement, access to livelihoods and achieving solutions for the legal and citizenship status of Muslim communities.
“Turning these recommendations into a reality on the ground is essential to building confidence for returns and addressing the tense inter-communal situation that has built up over many years in Rakhine state,” Edwards said.
“Without this, the risk of dangerous and rushed returns into a situation where violence might reignite is too great to be ignored,” he stressed.
Over 650,000 members of the minority Muslim Rohingya community have taken refuge, and more continue to arrive, in Bazar in southern Bangladesh after having been forced to flee their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine province following an outbreak of brutal violence in late-August 2017.
UNHCR said it remains prepared to work with both governments towards finding a long-term solution to this crisis in the interest of the refugees themselves, of both governments, the host community in Bangladesh and all communities in Rakhine state.