The Paper's reporter Wang Zhuoyi
Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, the surging image of the data map
On August 17, local time, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bachelet that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh must return to Myanmar.
Bachelet arrived in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on August 14 to begin a four-day visit to Bangladesh. After visiting the country's Rohingya refugee camps, she told the media that reality showed that it was still not the right time for the Rohingya to return to Myanmar.
Also on the 17th, the Indian government changed its mind within a few hours, and The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs of India, Hardeep Singh Puri, originally announced on Twitter that it would provide accommodation and ensure the safety of the Rohingya in Delhi, but the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs then issued a statement saying that the Rohingya in Delhi would be locked up in a detention camp and then deported.
Bangladesh's hostility towards the Rohingya is deepening
On November 25, 2021, local time, Rohingya refugees got off a bus and prepared to be resettled on Bashan Char Island in the Bay of Bengal. People's Vision Infographic
The Myanmar government considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and cannot obtain citizenship under Myanmar's current nationality law. In August 2017, the Burmese military was attacked by the terrorist group Rohingya Salvation Army, which immediately launched a "purge operation" against the Rohingya, and more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since then. Since the military seized power in 2021, Myanmar's security situation has deteriorated even more. In total, bangladesh is home to more than 1 million Rohingya.
The Associated Press reported that the Rohingya were subjected to "widespread discrimination" in Myanmar. In March, the United States said myanmar's oppression of the Rohingya amounted to "genocide."
The Rohingya refugee crisis that began in 2017 has now lasted for nearly five years, bangladesh is becoming increasingly impatient with its large Rohingya refugee population, and the domestic environment is becoming increasingly hostile to Rohingya refugees. According to the Associated Press on August 17, Bangladesh's prime minister's press secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted Hasina as saying on the same day: "The Rohingya are Citizens of Myanmar and must be sent back." ”
Bangladesh is questioning Myanmar's role in repatriating rohingya, and the two countries "held several meetings but achieved no results," Al Jazeera reported. Bangladesh accused Myanmar of delaying its commitment to start the repatriation process.
Hasina and several Cabinet ministers in Bangladesh have previously expressed disappointment at Myanmar's "inaction" over repatriation. The United Nations and the Bangladeshi government have tried at least twice to begin the repatriation process, but Rohingya refugees have refused to return to Myanmar citing security concerns.
BACHELET: Repatriation is not the time
Rohingya refugee IC photo in Cox's Bazar District, Chittagong District, Bangladesh
According to Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press reported on August 17, Bachelet visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh's Chittagong Special Region on the 16th and 17th, and met with some Rohingya, saying that they expressed to them "great expectations" for returning to Myanmar.
Bachelet said the Rohingya refugees expressed their "grievances and pain" to her and urged the United Nations to help improve security in Myanmar and create conditions for them to return to Myanmar.
"The United Nations is doing its best to help them, and we will continue to help." According to the Associated Press, Bachelet also noted that "the deep roots of the problem need to be addressed."
Bachelet responded to reporters in Dhaka that the current situation at the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar shows that it is not the right time for the Rohingya to return to Myanmar. She added that repatriation can only be made when "safe and sustainable conditions exist" in Myanmar and that "repatriation must always be carried out in a voluntary and dignified manner".
Bachelet also said she was concerned about the "growing anti-Rohingya rhetoric" in Bangladesh and the phenomenon of blaming the Rohingya for social problems.
Agence France-Presse quoted Bachelet as reporting that many Rohingya are worried about their security due to the activities of armed groups and criminal gangs.
The security situation has been worrying due to reports of killings, kidnappings, police searches of drug trafficking networks in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Earlier this month, an armed group active in a refugee camp killed two Rohingya leaders.
India's policy "changes face" in a matter of hours
On June 14, 2021 local time, a fire broke out at night in a Rohingya refugee camp in New Delhi, India, which burned down about 53 houses and displaced about 280 refugees. People's visual infographics
According to Reuters reported on August 17, India's Interior Ministry said on the same day that it would first detain Rohingya refugees in the capital Delhi in internment camps and then deport them back to Myanmar. Just hours earlier, Puri had promised to provide accommodation and safety for the Rohingya.
Earlier on the 17th, Puri outlined new rules for the Rohingya, saying on Twitter that the Indian government would allocate apartments to the Rohingya in the Bakkarwala area of western Delhi, providing basic amenities and 24-hour police protection.
As a result, public opinion speculated that India's negative stance towards the Rohingya may change. However, just hours after Puri tweeted, India's Home Ministry issued a statement saying that "illegal Rohingya aliens" would remain somewhere in southern Delhi "until they are deported by law".
According to Reuters, India's Interior Ministry also said that the Delhi government has not yet declared the rohingya's current residence as a detention camp, and that the Indian government has "instructed the Delhi government to declare it immediately.", According to Reuters.
According to an Indian online media report by Pragativadi on August 18, Puri then shared a statement from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs and said that what the Ministry of Home Affairs gave was the "right posture".
Ali Johar, a Rohingya human rights activist currently living in Delhi, estimates that as of the beginning of this year, about 1,100 Rohingya lived in Delhi, and another 17,000 lived elsewhere in India, mainly in manual labor, hawkers and rickshaw pullers. Fear of repatriation, about 2,000 Rohingya living in India have traveled to Bangladesh this year.
"Most Rohingya in Delhi now live in rental houses they feel safe, or in settlements." Johar said.
The Indian government has also previously tried to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar, while some Hindu right-wing groups have shown hatred for the Rohingya.
Jowhar told Reuters that the Concerns of the Rohingya in India that if the Indian government does end up using detention facilities to imprison the Rohingya, "it will be a nightmare." ”
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Wuwei
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang