Bangladesh to move forward with Rohingya repatriation despite calls from rights groups to hold off

Bangladesh officials said the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims who fled army-led violence in Myanmar will begin as scheduled on Thursday if people are willing to go, despite calls from UN officials and human rights groups to hold off. Refugee commissioner Abul Kalam told AP that he and other officials would go to Unchiprang, one of the sprawling refugee camps near the city of Cox’s Bazar, to urge some of the more than 700,000 Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh last year to go back to Myanmar voluntarily. Kalam declined to say what Bangladesh authorities would do if refugees refused to go. According to a UN-brokered deal with Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Rohingya cannot be forced to repatriate. Most people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar do not accept that the Rohingya Muslims are a native ethnic group. Despite assurances from Myanmar, human rights activists say the conditions are not yet safe for Rohingya refugees to go back.