Resettlement of Rohingya begins

Even though the repatriation of the Rohingya people to their homeland has not yet started formally, a handful of these people left their camp for the United States early this month.

Despite several attempts, Bangladesh has failed to secure an UN-backed repatriation and resettlement process for the past few years, and only individual relocations have taken place in extraordinary cases.

The initiative, the first of its kind, will pave the way for further resettlement of the members of the victimised community to third countries. It would allow these forcibly displaced Myanmar people to relocate to a place where they would not only be granted permanent residence, but also the right to employment and access to formal education.

Confirming the matter, Commissioner of the Office of Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said that only 62 out of 11 lakh Rohingya people have been resettled to Canada and United States of America early this month as per the guidance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN refugee agency.

“After the influx happened, there can be three solutions. Firstly repatriation, secondly resettlement (parallel to repatriation) and finally interrogation among the host community (here in the local community), and we are trying for the first approach. However, the government has allowed the second option as well,” he added.

Although the government has focused on the repatriation with the resettlement process in progress, the commissioner believes that introduction of a resettlement process would not hamper the desired repatriation process, he said.

Asked about the next group of people to leave the country, he said, “I am still uninformed about further process.”

“The process is guided by UNHCR. The foreign and home ministries are also involved in the process. They worked as liaison offices only in the process,” he explained.

According to the sources related to the Rohingya camp management, seeking anonymity, told the Business Post that a team has already been formed under UNHCR to complete the process.

Officials said that the family is selected following different criteria like their vulnerability to stay in the camps and so on. The data on those have been selected and kept secret till the day they were taken for the resettlement.

“This is the reason for the family members of the deceased Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah, the then chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights,” he added.

RRRC Commissioner Mizanur Rahman said UNHCR collects required data matched with the criteria set by them, the data was sent to Foreign Ministry and they sent it to the Home Affairs Ministry.

The Home Ministry verifies the information and if all is okayed it was sent to RRRC. Once RRRC forwarded the documents to the UNHCR and the embassies concerned, he added.

The Business Post tried to reach UNHCR Cox’s Bazar office over cellphone, but failed to contact.

Although Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, it has been hosting and providing humanitarian support to 9.50 lakh Rohingya people. The majority of them came to the country in 2017.

Human Rights Defender Nur Khan Liton, also the Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), said that the rightful, dignified repatriation of the Rohingya people is not even in sight and while the process is delaying resettlement should be welcome. “We are talking for long to the developed countries to share their shoulder with Bangladesh to carry this vast population,” he added.

He said, “Although the number of relocated Rohingyas is very low, but has a token value. The big thing is that the process has begun.”