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The petition - signed by representatives of groups including Oxfam, Save the Children, and the International Rescue Committee - described plans to begin repatriations this month as “dangerous and premature”.
Bloody military operations and systemic persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have driven more than 725,000 Rohingya from the country since August 2017, prompting UN investigators to accuse Yangon of genocide.
The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed last year to repatriate the refugees back to Rakhine state. Authorities announced on October 30 that the process would begin by mid-November, despite warnings that refugees would face the same conditions that drove them out.
“The UN has repeatedly stated that conditions in Myanmar are not conducive to return at this time. Refugees continue to flee Myanmar, and facilitating repatriation now would be premature,” said the petition from 42 aid groups.
“They are terrified about what will happen to them if they are returned to Myanmar now.”
Bloody military operations and systemic persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have driven more than 725,000 Rohingya from the country since August 2017, prompting UN investigators to accuse Yangon of genocide.
The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed last year to repatriate the refugees back to Rakhine state. Authorities announced on October 30 that the process would begin by mid-November, despite warnings that refugees would face the same conditions that drove them out.
“The UN has repeatedly stated that conditions in Myanmar are not conducive to return at this time. Refugees continue to flee Myanmar, and facilitating repatriation now would be premature,” said the petition from 42 aid groups.
“They are terrified about what will happen to them if they are returned to Myanmar now.”
