Rohingya crisis: UK does not see any chance of immediate return of refugees

The UK, which is leading the diplomatic effort to resolve the Rohingya crisis since Aug 25 mass exodus to Bangladesh, does not see any chance of immediate return of refugees to Myanmar.

“This is not a crisis that’s going to be resolved swiftly. It is clear to me refugees are going to be here for some time,” UK International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said, asking all to be “very practical” about this.

“We need to ensure that Bangladesh is properly supported to do that,” she said, calling upon international community to step up their support.

Mordaunt spoke to bdnews24.com on Monday before leaving Dhaka after her three-day visit when she talked with the Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar camps apart from her meeting with the senior government officials.

Her remarks came as Bangladesh and Myanmar inked a deal to start the process of repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas who fled violence in Rakhine State since October 2016.

According to the deal, the process will begin in two months.

Mordaunt said the voluntary return will need to create conditions of ‘peace and security’.

“I cannot see a situation where people are going to be opted to go back in very imminent future because the conditions for that are not yet in place,” she said, adding that the focus has to be creating the condition where they are actually able to return.

She called upon all to prepare medium and long term plan to deal the refugees living in Bangladesh.

“If we pretend that people are going to home in couple of months, that will be disservice to Bangladesh,” she said.

“I think we need to be very practical and support what the country [Bangladesh] needs,” she said, extolling Bangladesh’s efforts to deal the crisis.

“We need to think long term how we can build peace and security which is necessary for the refugees to stay there,” she said.

“We need to be very, very practical about this. The people we met yesterday are very, very traumatised.

“Most importantly they must have peace and security. There needs to be changes to ensure that they are not going to be injured again. I am very clear we need to be very, very practical,” she said.

She said during her visit she heard “harrowing” stories and listened to their testimony and wishes and formulating policies.

Mordaunt said everyone she spoke wants to return, but they can only do so if they have peace and security. It’s very important that the refugees’ views are taking into account, added the UK official

She said UK is here to support. “We will continue to be here.”

The UK has announced new £12 million for the Rohingya.

With this, the total UK’s support reached to £59 million since Aug 25, the day the Myanmar military began a crackdown in Rakhine state that resulted in over 600,000 Rohingyas crossing the border into Bangladesh.

“Other countries must follow our lead and do even more to help children overcome the trauma of war, reunite them with their families and give a future to the next generation,” said Mordaunt.