A recent report by the Human Rights Watch confirmed what Rohingyas have been saying all along – the state of Myanmar does not have the slightest intention of taking back the minority Muslim population expelled to Bangladesh in 2017; and anyone going back risks inhumane torture at the hands of security forces. On Tuesday, HRW published a report headed ‘Security Forces Torture Rohingya Returnees’, in which the international watchdog outlined how six Rohingyas, who had earlier told international journalists that they were being treated well on return, were in fact brutally tortured in pretrial detention centres by the BGP and military intelligence, including merciless assault and deprivation of food and water.
The report comes a day before State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi put the blame on Bangladesh’s shoulders for delaying the refugee repatriation process. Few outside Myanmar believe her sincerity.
“The torture of Rohingya returnees puts the lie to Myanmar government promises that refugees who return will be safe and protected,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “Despite Myanmar’s rhetoric guaranteeing a safe and dignified return, the reality is that Rohingya who go back still face the persecution and abuses they were forced to flee.”
In contradiction to Suu Kyi who lays the blame on Bangladesh, HRW points out that Myanmar authorities by themselves cannot be trusted anymore with the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims. The report argued, “the need for international protection, including United Nations monitors on the ground, before Rohingya will be able to return safely to Myanmar.”
The six Rohingyas were earlier forced to confess to international journalists that they were being nicely treated. They managed to escape to Bangladesh after many Rohingya detainees received a presidential pardon, in an attempt by the Myanmar government to show the international community that they want safe return for Rohingyas. The report also clearly shows how those giving interviews under the supervision of state forces are always been forced, sometimes under extreme circumstances, to recite what they have been taught, a tactic Myanmar has been using for years.
Independent accounts by Rohingyas who went back to Myanmar after 2017 however still express tales of inhumane and systematic torture, the same brutality of Myanmar’s current rulers that forced them to flee in the first place. HRW is right in insisting that international monitors are required before there is a conductive atmosphere for the return of Rohingya refugees.
The HRW reports can be accessed at https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/21/myanmar-security-forces-torture-rohingya-returnees
