Bangladesh to send Rohingya refugees back

The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina has told the UN human rights chief that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh must return home to Myanmar, from where they had fled waves of violent persecution.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet arrived toBangladesh's capital Dhaka on Sunday and visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar district near the border with Myanmar.

When Bachelet visited the camps on Wednesday, refugees urged the UN to help improve safety inside Myanmar so they can return to their homes.

The mostly Muslim Rohingya community has faced widespread ‘discrimination’ in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where most are denied citizenship and many other civilian rights.

“The Rohingya are nationals of Myanmar and they have to be taken back,” Hasina said.

The refugees will mark the fifth anniversary of their latest influx in Bangladesh.

Bachelet emphasized the importance of ensuring that safe and sustainable conditions exist and that any returns be conducted in a voluntary and dignified way, it said.

“The UN is doing the best we can to support them. We’ll continue doing that,” she said. “But we also need to deal with the profound roots of the problem. We need to deal with that and ensure that they can go back to Myanmar -– when there are conditions for safety and voluntary return.

(Reported by Aljazeera/CNN)