SOUTHEAST Asian leaders must use their next summit to hold talks on Myanmar’s treatment to the Rohingya, Rights Groups urged Wednesday, after a report by the bloc was pilloried for whitewashing the persecution of the Muslim minority. The report, commissioned by ASEAN and leaked to Agence France-Presse earlier this month, gives a positive assessment of Myanmar’s repatriation efforts so far for Rohingyas driven into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown on the Rohingya in August 2017, causing some 740,000 to flood into Bangladesh with widespread accounts of rape, mass killings and the razing of their villages. A repatriation deal with Bangladesh has stalled, with virtually no Rohingya choosing to return to Myanmar due to security fears and the government’s refusal to grant them citizenship or basic rights. In spite of this, the report from ASEAN’s “Emergency Response and Assessment Team” predicted voluntary returns would be completed in two years.
Amnesty International says it is ‘astonishing’ the report failed to mention the military atrocities that drove the Rohingya out, the continued segregation of those who remained, or ongoing armed conflict in Rakhine. It also refused to use the word “Rohingya” – an identity denied to them inside Myanmar where they are instead labelled “Bengalis,” shorthand for illegal immigrants. Malaysia has led condemnation of Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya in the past. But the ASEAN bloc broadly sticks to diplomatic protocols by avoiding discussion of member states’ internal affairs. “ASEAN needs to stop turning a blind eye to Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya,” said Eva Sundari, who also serves as a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights.
Bangladesh and Myanmar governments signed a repatriation deal in November 2017, yet so far virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to return. It’s almost clear that Rohingyas won’t be returning home voluntarily until the situation on the ground in Rakhine State changes. We’re surprised how the ASEAN has taken the Rohingya issue so casually. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recently slammed Myanmar for delays in the repatriation of Rohingya refugees. Obviously her comments are a sign that Dhaka’s patience is wearing thin.
