Year after Rohingya crisis started, 1 million refugees face grim future

Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim refugees marked the one-year anniversary of the attacks that sent them fleeing to safety in Bangladesh, praying they can return home and demanding justice for their dead relatives and neighbors.

It is not up to Bangladesh.

“We do not believe that circumstances at present are conducive for return and any return has to be in safety, with dignity and on a voluntary basis”, said Firas Al-Khateeb, the United Nations refugee agency’s spokesman in Cox’s Bazar.

While the Rohingya exodus from western Myanmar continues, with refugees still trickling over the border, the United Nations and worldwide rights groups say conditions are not ready for their return.

His comments come on the heels of Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s reiteration of support for the measures her government has taken in handling the crisis, despite mounting global criticism. As well as being in one of the world’s most densely populated areas, the area is prone to floods and cyclones. “It is remarkable that not only has the mortality rate among the Rohingyas remained lower than expected in an emergency of such a scale, it has also reduced significantly in the last six months”, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, commending the Government of Bangladesh and health partners’ work on the ground.

Humanitarian agencies spearheading the relief effort in Bangladesh say just one third of the roughly Dollars 1 bn needed for the refugees until March has been raised. Vaccination campaigns, supported by MSF, have been instrumental in preventing outbreaks of cholera and measles, and in containing the spread of diphtheria.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community. “I have never stepped on Myanmar soil”.

Last year, August 25, we faced genocide in Myanmar. “The world has failed to hold the perpetrators of these barbaric attacks, including the Myanmar military, to account”.

Myanmar s government denies allegations of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, yet labels them “Bengalis” non-native to the Buddhist-majority country.

“Our mothers and fathers are from Myanmar”, he told Al Jazeera.

“(This is) in order to expand the response from day-to-day life saving operations to also addressing challenges such as education and self-reliance for the Rohingyas”. Meanwhile, state media reported that the Myanmar military’s commander-in-chief was in Russia-another permanent member-on the eve of the anniversary of a crackdown he ordered. It has built transit centers to receive Rohingya returnees to western Rakhine State.

“As Myanmar is clearly both unwilling and unable to investigate itself, we are now at a stage where the worldwide community must step in to ensure accountability”, Santiago said. “At night it is very dark here, we have no lights”.

NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt acknowledged that the ethnic and religious tensions that triggered the violence in Rakhine a year ago remained stark. The report said the worldwide community should invest in supporting quality education and life-skills for all Rohingya children, especially girls and adolescents who it says are at risk of being excluded.