Two years after their massive exodus to Bangladesh, the Rohingya are "deadlocked"

From August 2017, they fled what was akin to a "classic example of ethnic cleansing" in Burma. Two years later, some of them could be housed on a flood-prone island that the government plans to build off Bangladesh. Having fled hundreds of thousands of persecutions in Myanmar, much of the Rohingya has not since returned to normal life.

"Even if their security situation has improved, time is passing and living conditions - even survival - are still difficult for the Rohingya," said Frédéric Joli, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Paris, contacted by France 24.

According to the UN, there are now nearly one million refugees in the Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh, including 741,000 who arrived from Burma in 2017. All live in camps in the south-east of the country. , including Kutupalong, designated by the United Nations Refugee Agency as the "largest refugee camp in the world".

This high concentration of refugees poses problems of overcrowding to the Bangladeshi authorities, as explained Sophie Brondel, coordinator of the association Info Burma, contacted by France 24: "The camps on the border with Burma are obviously overcrowded, so it is necessary find them relocation solutions. "

Dhaka is planning to move 100,000 refugees to Bhasan Char Island, where she is building buildings to unclog the camps in the southeast. With a flat: the island in question is exposed to climatic hazards. "It is an island in the Bay of Bengal exposed to bad weather and flood, which is not viable at the base for refugees," says Sophie Brondel. "This shows that we are at a standstill in terms of care: we must find viable relocation solutions but on the Bangladeshi territory, not at sea."

"The dangers of promiscuity"

On Earth, however, the fate of Rohingya refugees does not seem to be under a good star. "There are camps, especially in the area of ​​Cox's Bazar, with all the dangers of promiscuity," says Frédéric Joli. "It goes from waterborne diseases - like the risk of cholera - to the risk of epidemics and infections, all because the Rohingya live in conditions of health, food and access to care made very difficult."

These precarious conditions also make access to education complicated for children, as Unicef ​​is concerned. "Two years after mass flight from Myanmar, the acquisition of life skills and knowledge is crucial for the 500,000 or more children who have taken refuge in Bangladesh," said the organization for assistance to the country. United Nations Childhood. And she says that despite "the non-formal education provided to 280,000 children aged 4 to 14 (...), more than 25,000 children are without any apprenticeship program."

In addition to these difficult living conditions, the climatic risks endured by the local populations, as evidenced by the monsoon in Southeast Asia last July. This included Bangladesh and refugee camps, where deaths have been reported and 3,000 Rohingya families affected by the floods.

In addition, cohabitation with the Bangladeshi population is another element of concern. According to Frédéric Joli, "the humanitarian consequences of the violence of two years ago remain and truly take place over time", both for the Rohingya and for the host populations. "These last ones," he continues, "are for some of the farmers who have lost a piece of their land for the establishment of the camps, and for whom the time begins to be long."

"Cut all financial support to the Myanmar army"

Faced with this situation, the Burmese authorities have proposed repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar. Refugees wishing to do so were allowed to return to Burma on August 22, but no return candidate has come forward. The following day, Myanmar accused Dacca of being responsible for the failure of the latest attempt to return 3,500 Rohingya refugees to Burma.

The situation was already the same in November 2018: no Rohingya returned to Burma despite the 2,251 names of refugees on the repatriation list. "These failures are linked to the fact that these repatriation announcements are actually announcing effects by the Burmese authorities," says Sophie Brondel. "In Burma, the conditions for a return are not at all met and the political will to welcome these Rohingya does not exist. The authorities regard them as foreigners, as migrants from Bangladesh. "

For the Rohingya, the security conditions for a return to Burma are not met. They fear being sent to internment camps for displaced people. And in case of return, they want to be considered as full citizens - where the Burmese authorities do not recognize this status, even for families who have been present on the national territory for several generations.

The future of these hundreds of thousands of refugees seems blurred in the short and medium term. "We must allow the Rohingya to live in dignity with a minimum of prospects," said Frédéric Joli, for whom "the solutions will go through political guarantees given to this population."

Seeing that the situation is "at a standstill" with the Burmese authorities, the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Violence Against Rohingya (UN) urges the international community to "cut off all financial support to the Myanmar army" in order to to accentuate the pressure on Burma. "The government (Burma) has not done enough to protect the population ... there has been no movement towards a resolution of the crisis," said the president of the Mission, Marzuki Darusman in May .

The same Mission claims that Burmese army commanders must be "isolated and brought to a credible court to answer to charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide." Prosecution may be a prerequisite for a future improvement of the Rohingya lot.