Rohingya give Myanmar official list of demands for repatriation
DHAKA—A Myanmar Cabinet minister visited a sprawling refugee camp in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslims, who described the violence that forced them to flee Myanmar and presented a list of demands for their repatriation.
Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye on Wednesday met with about 40 Rohingya refugees at the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar for more than an hour, sometimes exchanging heated words.
A Rohingya leader, Abdur Rahim, said at least eight rape victims were among those who met with Win Myat Aye. Rahim said the group presented 13 demands for the government to meet for their return to Myanmar.
About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled army-led violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since last August and are living in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The two countries agreed in December to begin repatriating them in January, but they were delayed by concerns among aid workers and Rohingya that they would face unsafe conditions in Myanmar.
Bangladesh has given Myanmar a list of more than 8,000 refugees to begin the repatriation, but it has been further delayed by a complicated verification process.
Win Myat Aye did not specify a timeframe for the repatriation but said it should begin as soon as possible.
Rahim said the group became angry when Win Myat Aye said the Rohingya refugees must accept national verification cards to be provided by Myanmar in which they state they are migrants from Bangladesh.
Rahim said they demanded to be recognised as citizens of Myanmar before the repatriation starts and that their security arrangements be supervised by the United Nations. — AP
Photo: A woman carries water up a steep hill in the Balukhali Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. Aid workers say these slopes may collapse in the coming monsoon rains. Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in thousands of makeshift shelters on steep, sandy hills in Bangladesh. Humanitarian groups are afraid of what will happen when the monsoons come. Source: Allison Joyce for NPR.
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Violation Database entries for Myanmar, 2000–2018
Title
Date
Victims
Type of violation
04/11/2016
200
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
09/10/2016
800.000
Forced eviction
Demolition/destruction
Dispossession/confiscation
19/05/2015
2.500
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
Privatization of public goods and services
14/08/2014
1.500
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
24/08/2013
10.000
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
20/07/2013
50
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
24/05/2013
124
Dispossession/confiscation
24/04/2012
1.500
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
01/01/2012
870.000
Forced eviction
Demolition/destruction
Dispossession/confiscation
22/11/2011
8.588
Dispossession/confiscation
07/10/2011
39.670
Dispossession/confiscation
04/08/2011
200
Dispossession/confiscation
01/06/2011
100.000
Forced eviction
Demolition/destruction
Dispossession/confiscation
03/06/2009
1.200
Forced eviction
19/05/2009
1.000
Forced eviction
Impact Assessment of Cyclone Nargis: Gross Violations of Housing and Land Rights
25/07/2008
1.000
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
08/05/2007
2.000
Dispossession/confiscation
Privatization of public goods and services
Conflict and Development-induced Displacements, 2007
28/10/2006
76.000
Forced eviction
Demolition/destruction
Dispossession/confiscation
22/09/2005
60.000
Forced eviction
Dispossession/confiscation
01/08/2005
82.000
Forced eviction
Demolition/destruction
Affected persons: 2,057,532
Record Count: 20