Rohingya Repatriation: How close are we to a solution?

Sumaiya Sarwat writes for DOT :
TheRohingya refugee crisis took the most severe form by the end of the last year following the military crackdown operations in Rakhine State conducted by the Myanmar military forces that started from August, 2017. Thousands of Rohingyas flew from Myanmar to avoid the persecution and took refuge in Bangladesh. Bangladesh which is itself a developing country with limited resources has created a living example of humanity and generosity by conforming to the non-refoulment principle where most of the countries remained silent and avoided their responsibility.Eventually, voices were raised against this heinous acts and human rights violation around the world. After the publication of several reports by different organizations, especially, the fact finding mission report by the United Nation,the protests against this systemic inhuman ethnic cleansing have found its true and rational ground. And as a result of theincreasing pressure by the neighboring Countries as well as by the international community a number of consecutive talks took place jointly between UNHCR, Bangladesh and Myanmar on Rohingya repatriation related issues. Though these talks brought a number of bilateral agreements in existences, they couldn’t erase the ambiguity regarding the process and steps for the proper execution of the matters agreed there upon. As per the agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, the repatriation of the first batch of 2,200 refugees was to begin officially on November 15 this year. But sadly, this long awaited repatriation process was pushed back to 2019. A number of issues played important roles behind the recent fall of the agreement. Firstly, in order to send the refugees back to their countries of origin’ssafety and security is the prerequisite. And by some recent incidents like, the protests in RakhineState led by Buddhists monks,it is quite clear that the situation in Rakhine state is not stable and friendly enough to provide safety and a proper resettlement conditionto the Rohingya returnees. Secondly,this feeling of fear and insecurityis leading the Rohingya peopletowards opposing and protesting against the agreed voluntary repatriation process. They are complaining because they have doubts that they may face the same violence again and again after returning there, as Myanmar has agreed to take them on the condition that, they would need to accept the National Verification Card, which brands them as foreigners instead of recognizing them as a native ethnic group. Moreover, Myanmar has always denied it’s involvement in any act of violence even after it was clearly proved in different reliable investigation reports. These issues need to be sorted out and the Rohingya people should get the opportunity to participate in relevant discussions and share their thought through their chosen representatives. Finally, the whole repatriation process was faulty from the very beginning for different reasons. At present, the total number of Rohingya residing in Bangladesh is approximately 1 million including 7, 20,000Rohingyapeople who took shelter after the violent occurrence of last year. Therefore sending a small group of Rohingya at a time will make it a lengthy process.And that may give rise to a number of questions regarding the nationality of the infants born in between this period.In addition no proper analysis was made as to the safety and living condition of the Rohingya populationafter their return to Myanmar.
Thus it can be said that though progresses are made in solving Rohingyarefugee crisis, overall solution to this problem and re-establishment of the Rohingyas in their former peaceful life in Rakhine is still a far cry and needsproper planning and execution as the situation may demand.
The writer is a Research Assistant, BILIA