Bangladesh, UNHCR to sign MoU in Geneva today

Bangladesh and the UNHCR are scheduled to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Geneva on Friday to help ensure safe and voluntary repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

The MoU is aimed at boosting cooperation between Bangladesh and the UN agency, officials said.

A seven-member Bangladesh delegation led by Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque is already in Geneva to sign the MoU.

Myanmar Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Win Myat Aye on Thursday said they will soon finalize the proposed MoUs with UNHCR and UNDP and those will soon be signed to assist the repatriation process.

Minister Myat Aye said, “I am very sure that we can start repatriation process as soon as possible.” Asked about specific date he said, “Very soon.”

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed the repatriation agreement on November 23, 2017. On January 16, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a document on 'Physical Arrangement' which will facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland from Bangladesh.

The 'Physical Arrangement' stipulates that the repatriation will be completed preferably within two years from the start of repatriation.

Bangladesh currently has a Rohingya population, which is far more than Bhutan’s entire population.

Bhutan has around 800,000 people whereas Bangladesh had to give shelter to some 1.2 million Rohingyas.

Earlier on Wednesday, Myanmar Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister visited Rohingya camps amid protest.

This was first such visit by any Myanmar minister to the largest-ever refugee camps where some 700,000 Rohingyas have taken shelter since last August following an army crackdown in Rakhine.

The United Nations has likened the Myanmar army’s crackdown to ethnic cleansing.

Though there have been high-level visits from Myanmar, no one of the visitors has visited the Rohingya camps to date.

Bangladesh has already handed over a list of 1,673 Rohingya families (8,032 individuals) to Myanmar to start the first phase of repatriation of the displaced people to their homeland in Rakhine but there is no sign of their repatriation yet.

Source: unb