Bangladesh persecuting stateless Rohingyas, relief agency says

Feb 18, 2010, 7:56 GMT

Bangkok - Medecins Sans Frontieres on Thursday called on Bangladesh to halt a violent persecution campaign against stateless Rohingyas that has forced thousands to flee their temporary shelters in the eastern part of the country in recent months.

According to MSF, which is running an emergency clinic for Rohingyas in Kutupalong, near Cox's Bazaar in eastern Bangladesh, a violent crackdown on the ethnic minority group has left up to 29,000 homeless, threating a health and humanitarian crisis.

'More than 6,000 people have arrived at the makeshift camp since October, 2,000 of those in January alone,' head of the MSF Bangladesh mission Paul Critchley said.

He said there were about 29,000 homeless Rohingyas in the Cox's Bazaar area, fleeing violent persecution in the countryside by authorities and villagers.

'As the numbers swell and resources become increasingly scarce, we are extremely concerned about this deepening crisis,' Critchley told a press conference in Bangkok.

The Rohingya are an ethnic minority from Myanmar, although the country's government claims they are ethnic Bangladeshis who migrated over the years to Rakhine State in western Myanmar.

Myanmar's military regime in 1989 launched a persecution campaign against the Rohingyas, forcing an estimated 220,000 to flee the Rakhine State to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Of these, the Bangladesh government has recognized only 28,000 as prima facie refugees, allowing them to live in refugees camps run by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Another 200,000 live in Bangladesh without refugee status, without UN aid and with little prospect for employment as the country already suffers from massive overpopulation and widespread unemployment.

The plight of the Rohingyas was brought to world attention in January last year, when the Thai military was accused of towing hundreds of Rohingya refugees out to sea in engineless boats to prevent them from entering the kingdom in search of work.

The incident raised the need for a regional approach to solving the issue, involving Bangladesh, Myanmar and the South-East Asian countries where many Rohingyas have sought work as migrant labourers.

Although Myanmar last April agreed to allow Rohingyas to return to the Rakhine State if they have proof of previous residence there, few have taken up the offer.

Now the Bangladeshi Border Force is attempting to forcibly repatriate the Rohingyas to Myanmar, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.

'It is imperative that the government of Bangladesh act immediately to stop the violence and provide these people with the protection to which they are entitled,' Critchley said.

He also called on the UNHCR to provide protection to the Rohingyas outside their camps.

'UNHCR needs to take greater steps toward developing a clear policy to tackle the issue, and must not let the terms of its agreement with the government undermine its role as international protector of those who lave lost the protection of their state, or whom have no state to turn to,' Critchley said.