A United Nations expert has urged Malaysia to immediately halt the repatriation of Myanmar nationals and work with the UN and other partners to protect Rohingya and other refugees in line with international law.
Kelley E Currie, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said she was gravely concerned that Malaysia had begun returning 5,000 Myanmar nationals, including women and children, under what the authorities described as a voluntary repatriation programme agreed with Myanmar’s military authorities.
Malaysia began repatriating the first group of 1,476 Myanmar nationals on 29 September. Malaysian authorities have said the process is voluntary and phased, while UN agencies and rights groups have questioned whether conditions in Myanmar are safe for returns.
Currie said Malaysia was obliged under international law to uphold the principle of non-refoulement and prevent people from being returned to places where they face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious human rights violations.
“In my assessment, the risk of refoulement in the present circumstances is substantial,” she said.
The Special Rapporteur also condemned a deadly airstrike by the Myanmar military on 28 September on India Market in Pike Thae village of Kyauktaw Township in Rakhine State.
More than 50 civilians were reported killed and many others injured in the attack, according to the UN expert.
Currie said the death toll could rise as rescue efforts continued and called for an end to what she described as the normalisation of violations of international law involving air attacks on civilians.
She reminded Myanmar’s military authorities of their obligations to protect civilians under international law applicable during armed conflict.
Currie said the continuing armed conflict and widespread violence in Rakhine State, including violations against the Rohingya by parties to the conflict, meant conditions were not currently in place for refugees to return safely, voluntarily, sustainably and with dignity.
She urged the Malaysian government to take into account the legal, humanitarian and practical requirements for voluntary repatriation and ensure that the rights of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia were protected.
Currie said Myanmar’s continuing civil war, particularly violence against civilians and civilian institutions in Rakhine State, was placing the remaining Rohingya population at risk and driving further refugee movements out of the country.
She said conditions in camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine State under military control had deteriorated severely, while fresh reports continued to emerge of abuses against Rohingya civilians by armed groups on different sides of the conflict.
Myanmar’s military authorities also continued to severely restrict access for independent humanitarian assistance, verification and monitoring of conditions on the ground, including conditions facing potential returnees, she said.
