KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has begun returning Rohingya refugees in the country back home, despite warnings that Myanmar remains unsafe for them.Malaysia deported around 1,500 Rohingya, including children, on Tuesday as part of a refugee repatriation program, defying objections from the United Nations and dozens of human rights groups.The deportation is the first phase of a broader plan agreed with Myanmar that could see as many as 5,000 people returned.Malaysia has said returns are strictly voluntary, but the UN refugee agency and civil society organizations have raised concerns about the programme given Myanmar’s ongoing civil war.Dozens of buses accompanied by security vehicles arrived at a stadium near the Lumut naval base in Malaysia’s Perak state on Tuesday morning, then moved to the port where two Myanmar naval vessels and a hospital ship were docked, witnesses said.Those being returned included 1,370 men, 79 women, 20 boys and 7 girls, aged between 8 and 60, state news agency Bernama reported, citing a Malaysian home ministry official.In a separate statement, the ministry said the Myanmar government identified those for repatriation.Further repatriation phases will continue subject to identification, documentation and verification processes, it said.A Myanmar government spokesperson and its embassy in Kuala Lumpur did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Myanmar’s foreign ministry said this month it was working with countries to facilitate the voluntary return of verified displaced persons in a safe and dignified manner, according to a state media report.The Myanmar army has repeatedly cracked down on the country’s Rohingya minority, including a wave of violence in 2017 that many rights groups have described as genocide, and which set off a major refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and other neighboring nations.Myanmar does not officially recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic community with local roots, instead describing them as Bangladeshi migrants.The UNHCR has said current conditions “do not support the safe and sustainable return of refugees from Myanmar” and that it had not been involved in identifying those being returned.Malaysia has stepped up immigration enforcement in recent years amid rising local hostility against refugees, particularly ethnic Rohingya Muslims, many of whom fled after a 2017 Myanmar military crackdown that is the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.According to the UNHCR, Malaysia had around 193,000 registered refugees from Myanmar at the end of February, with about two-thirds of them Rohingya.A wave of online hate speech and misinformation this year has led to harassment of the Rohingya community, forcing widespread school closures.The home ministry did not provide details on the ethnicity of those being returned on Tuesday, their refugee status or whether Rohingya were among them.It said the repatriation process was part of a government effort to reduce the number of asylum-seekers in Malaysia, particularly those from Myanmar, who make up more than 95% of refugees in the country.”For decades, this issue… has dragged on without a strong solution. This lapse has led to a huge financial burden on the country, triggered a serious social crisis and introduced a real security threat in Malaysia,” it said.The ministry said its approach, through diplomatic negotiations with Myanmar, ensured action could be taken “in an orderly, responsible and humane manner without compromising national security and sovereignty.”Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said this month he would invite Myanmar’s military chief-turned-President Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit in return for accepting Rohingya refugees.Anwar said in July that Myanmar had agreed to take back as many as 5,000 Rohingya. Myanmar does not recognize Rohingya as an ethnic group.James Bawi Thang Bik, who represents refugees from Myanmar’s Chin community in Malaysia, said he was aware of several asylum-seekers among those being deported, including a UNHCR-recognized refugee, citing information gathered by community leaders.Those being sent back could face forced conscription, he said.”We fear that they may be forced to fight on the frontlines of the conflict. For many, it is akin to sending them to a death sentence in their own home,” James said.While Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, the repatriation violates the principle of non-refoulement that bars countries from returning people to places where they are at risk of persecution, rights groups Amnesty International Malaysia and Asylum Access Malaysia said in a joint statement.The groups said questions remained over how those being deported were identified and whether there were any measures to ensure their safety once back in Myanmar. They also expressed concern over the refugee registration document (DPP) initiative Malaysia launched in January to manage asylum seekers and refugees.”A meaningful refugee protection framework must ensure that refugees are able to access asylum while in Malaysia. It cannot be a system designed to fast-track unlawful deportations,” they said.“The genocide has never stopped. Sending Rohingya back to this is not repatriation,” Nay San Lwin, cochair of the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC), a group representing the Rohingya, told Al Jazeera news channel. “It is sending people back to a killing field. We call on Malaysia to halt all returns of Rohingya to Myanmar until it is safe.”He argued that Malaysia’s decision to send refugees back to Myanmar came at a time when intense fighting was taking place between the army and rebel groups, including the Arakan Army.“The Myanmar military has lost control of much of the Rohingya homeland, and its fighting with the Arakan Army is still ongoing, with Rohingya caught in the middle. Both the military and the Arakan Army are committing atrocities against the Rohingya,” he said.
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