One year since exodus, what future for the Rohingya?

It is one year since 700,000 minority Rohingya fled northern Rakhine ((ruh-HINE)) state in Myanmar, driven out by military action the United Nations describes as "textbook ethnic cleansing." They joined more than 200,000 other Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh, where they continue to face health problems, poor living conditions and uncertain futures.

Rohingya

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees are celebrating Eid al-Adha in sprawling Bangladeshi camps. Source: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

For one year now, Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been living in terrible conditions across the border in Bangladesh.

They have been crowded into makeshift houses, mostly made of bamboo, and with only plastic sheets to protect them from the elements.

Nearly a million are displaced and stateless.

Human Rights Watch Australia director Elaine Pearson sums up the situation.

"This is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our modern times. We saw 700,000 Rohingya flee from the worst of the worst kind of atrocities. These were crimes against humanity. Entire villages were burnt to the ground. Men were slaughtered, women were gang-raped, children -- babies -- were thrown onto fires. And the people who did manage to escape these abuses went to Bangladesh, where, one year later, they remain in overcrowded camps, with, really, nowhere to go."

Human-rights groups say Myanmar's military carried out those attacks, attacking civilians, burning down entire villages and killing thousands of people in so-called "clearance operations."

The United Nations later described them as "textbook ethnic cleansing."

Myanmar's military insists it was responding to Rohingya militant attacks on 30 police posts and an army base and says claims of violence and rape are fabrications.

Many of those who fled to Bangladesh now live in a sprawling refugee camp in Cox's Bazar.

Conditions are unhygienic, and mental scars are another problem.

Medecins San Frontieres' Donald Kazungu is in Bangladesh and says the mental-health concerns are widespread.

"The mental-health problem is exacerbated by various factors -- the fear for their security and all this uncertainty of being in a dilemma of not being recognised from both sides."

Medecins Sans Frontieres says it has provided more than 650,000 medical consultations in its 19 health facilities in Cox's Bazar.

But Mr Kazungu says it is not enough to handle all the issues.

"No single organisation can provide holistic care. There's still a lot of work to be done. As we continue with the current services and try to improve it more, it's good to tell the world there's still a lot that needs to be done for Rohingya people."

Yunus Mohammed, who lives in Melbourne, left northern Rakhine state eight years ago and says he, too, suffered under Myanmar's military.

"Sometimes they ask for money. If you can't give money, they beat you, kick you. They are doing like this for many years."

 

He says his mother convinced him to leave but she stayed behind.

Now she, along with several other family members, remains stuck in Bangladesh.

Mr Mohammed says he worries about them.

"I'm worried because they have to sleep on the floor. There is cold weather, now it's rainy season, monsoon ... They can't go anywhere. They can't do anything."

 

A deal was signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar last November, and another between the United Nations and Myanmar in July.

Both were supposed to safeguard the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees, but the United Nations has refused to comment on details of the deal.

Many Rohingya say they will not return until Myanmar recognises them as citizens and guarantees their safety.

And Ms Pearson says some who have returned have faced new horrors.

"Several Rohingya who have returned to Myanmar have actually faced torture. They've been rounded up on their return, detained, sentenced to prison terms, then eventually pardoned. But during that time in custody, they were beaten ... in some cases, they were subjected to electric shock. So they were really treated very badly. And they've, unfortunately, had to flee again to Bangladesh."

It leaves the Rohingya with a near-impossible choice, stay where they are or return to the horror they fled.

 

 


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4 min read
Published 25 August 2018 11:17pm
Updated 25 August 2018 11:20pm
By Matthew Connellan
Presented by Mu Laing Thein

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