Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized sharply a plan to return Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, saying it poses “grave risks” to their lives and liberty.
Bangladesh is home to about a million Rohingya, most of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar that is now subject to a United Nations genocide investigation.
The two countries are looking to return about 1,100 people in a pilot project in the coming weeks even though the UN has said repeatedly the conditions are not right.
Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, rejected any claims of coercing the Rohingya to return or not consulting them.
About 600,000 Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state are confined to squalid camps and villages that leave them vulnerable to extreme weather events such as the recent Cyclone Mocha, HRW added.
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