Bangladesh admits no Rohingya willing to take repatriation offer

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Bangladesh admits no Rohingya willing to take repatriation offer

Buses standing ready to return refugees to Myanmar but no one is willing to board

Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Shaikh Azizur Rahman and Michael Safi
Thu 15 Nov 2018 13.40 GMT

Bangladesh has conceded that it will be unable to voluntarily repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar as it had planned because it cannot find anyone willing to go back, though efforts to “motivate” people to leave will continue.

Four trucks and three buses were stationed at Unchiprang camp in Cox’s Bazar on Thursday morning, ready to carry refugees who have been “approved” to a transit camp by the border, but not one refugee was willing to board them. Most refugees on a list of those approved to return have gone into hiding.

Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and rehabilitation commissioner, said his team had completed the “physical and logistical preparations” to facilitate the repatriation but has been forced to accept by Thursday evening local time that the refugees “are not willing to go back now.”

“Bangladesh was “totally committed to the principle of non-refoulement and voluntary repatriation”, Abul Kalam said. “We will not force anyone to go back to Myanmar against his or her will,” he added, though authorities would continue to try to “motivate” refugees to leave.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/rohingya-refugee-repatriations-bangladesh-myanmar

[ck4829]

1. "And if you board the bus, we'll drop you off in the area filled with people who sexually assaulted

you and burned down your home!"

Not sure that's a winning formula.