Myanmar’s military-backed authorities have announced that they have verified 308,797 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh as former residents of Rakhine State and will receive them once the security situation improves. Presented as progress towards repatriation, the announcement collapses under even elementary scrutiny.

According to recent reporting, Bangladesh submitted the names of 828,824 refugees for verification. Myanmar accepted only 308,797 as former residents of Rakhine State, rejected or failed to recognise 113,507, and reportedly designated 4,241 people as connected to “terrorism.” Hundreds of thousands of other cases remain unresolved. Meanwhile, approximately 1.2 million Rohingya refugees are now sheltering in Bangladesh, including thousands of children born in the camps during almost nine years of exile. Associated Press, Reuters

Myanmar continues to avoid the fundamental truth: the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are not foreigners seeking admission into Myanmar. They are a population uprooted from their ancestral homeland in Arakan through successive military operations, discriminatory laws, organised violence and genocide. Children born in Bangladesh did not lose their connection to Arakan merely because Myanmar forced their parents into exile.

A promise from an authority without territorial control

The military’s announcement is especially absurd because it has lost control of most of Arakan. The Arakan Army now controls almost the entire state, while the military retains only a small number of strategic areas, including parts of Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung. Sittwe itself has been heavily fortified as fighting moves closer to the state capital. International Crisis Group, ACLED

How can the Myanmar authorities credibly promise to return hundreds of thousands of people to areas they do not control? Where will the refugees be returned? Who will guarantee their security? Who will restore their land? Who will prevent further persecution, forced recruitment, arbitrary detention and displacement? The announcement answers none of these questions.

By saying that repatriation will begin only “when the security situation improves,” the military has created an indefinite condition with no timetable, measurable standard or enforcement mechanism. It receives international attention for supposedly accepting refugees while assuming no immediate responsibility for bringing a single Rohingya safely home. That is not repatriation. It is political theatre intended to mislead the international community and ease pressure from neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh.

The test of sincerity is already in Sittwe

Myanmar does not need to wait for a future settlement to demonstrate sincerity. It can begin today in Sittwe, an area still under its control. Since the communal violence of 2012, approximately 140,000 Rohingya have been confined in squalid displacement camps in and around Sittwe. They have faced severe restrictions on movement, access to education, healthcare and livelihoods. Many were prevented from returning to their original neighborhoods while the homes and communities from which they were expelled were destroyed or appropriated.

If the authorities genuinely support Rohingya return, they should immediately:

  1. Allow displaced Rohingya in Sittwe to return voluntarily and safely to their original homes and neighborhoods.
  2. Restore their land and property or provide fair compensation where restoration is impossible.
  3. Rebuild the homes, schools, mosques, clinics and community facilities destroyed through the actions and complicity of the military and Rakhine extremists.
  4. End internment, movement restrictions, segregation and discriminatory administrative requirements.
  5. Recognise the Rohingya by their chosen ethnic name and restore full citizenship and equal rights.
  6. Permit unrestricted humanitarian access and independent international monitoring.

The military has done none of this. Rohingya who remain inside Myanmar continue to face conditions that international human-rights organisations describe as involving persecution, forced labour, severe movement restrictions and acute shortages of food and healthcare. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

A government that will not permit Rohingya already living within territory under its control to return to their homes cannot credibly claim that it is prepared to receive hundreds of thousands from Bangladesh.

Verification must not become another instrument of exclusion

Myanmar’s verification process also reverses the burden of proof. The state that expelled the Rohingya, destroyed their villages, confiscated their documents and denied their identity now demands that its victims prove that they belong.

Many refugees fled military attacks without documents. Others had their identity papers confiscated or destroyed by the same authorities now judging whether they are eligible to return. Myanmar cannot use the consequences of its own persecution as grounds for rejecting the people it persecuted.

Nor can Myanmar arbitrarily exclude children born in Bangladesh. These children were born in exile because their parents were forcibly displaced. They possess the same right to return to their families’ homeland. Myanmar must recognise family unity and accept all Rohingya refugees and their descendants not select a limited number for political display.

The reported classification of thousands of refugees as connected to terrorism is also deeply concerning. Myanmar has repeatedly used vague security allegations to criminalize Rohingya identity, deny rights and justify collective punishment. Any individual allegation must be supported by credible evidence, subjected to independent review and handled according to internationally recognised due-process standards.

Bangladesh and the international community must demand substance

Bangladesh has carried an enormous humanitarian burden and has every right to demand a durable solution. But it should not allow Myanmar’s announcement to be marketed as a breakthrough unless it produces concrete, verifiable changes. No Rohingya should be pressured to return without citizenship, freedom of movement, physical security, property restitution, livelihood opportunities and international protection.

Repatriation must be voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable. It cannot mean transferring refugees from camps in Bangladesh into detention camps, segregated settlements or another system of persecution inside Arakan. The international community should judge Myanmar by its actions in Sittwe. Allow the Sittwe IDPs to go home. Restore their rights. Rebuild their communities. Restore their citizenship. Establish international protection and monitoring. Then the world may begin to assess whether Myanmar’s words carry any meaning.

Until those elementary steps are taken, the promise to accept approximately 309,000 Rohingya is not a repatriation plan. It is a transparent and cynical political ploy, one too implausible to fool even a primary-school student.

Rohingya Community in Norway (RCN)

Rosevegen 5A, 3435 Nodeland, Norway

rcn@rohingya.no | +47 9242 8989