Rohingya Identity Is More Than Words on a Card - Myanmar Needs to Recognize Rights of Refugees in Bangladesh

Description: 

"While changing a few words on a refugee?s ID card may seem inconsequential, for the 700,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who fled ethnic cleansing in Myanmar a year ago, it is essential. In negotiating with Myanmar for the repatriation of the Rohingya, Bangladesh recently agreed to change the wording on their ID cards from ?Myanmar nationals” to ?displaced persons from Rakhine State.” This change signals that Myanmar doesn?t intend to honor the citizenship rights of the Rohingya, nor acknowledge the causes of their displacement ? security force operations that included murder, widespread rape, mass arson, and pillage. It also suggests Bangladesh?s willingness to dismiss the Rohingya?s rights as refugees as repatriation plans move forward. Although the vast majority of the Rohingya are officially stateless, many have long and deep roots in Myanmar. Despite living in miserable, dangerous conditions in grossly overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, the refugees I visited there were unwilling to criticize their hosts because, as they frequently said to me, ?Bangladesh is not my country.” I heard this phrase so often that I made it the title of our report on their plight. Their country, they said, was Myanmar, and to their homes and homeland they wanted to return, they said..."

Creator/author: 

Bill Frelick Director, Refugee Rights Program

Source/publisher: 

Human Rights Watch

Date of Publication: 

2018-08-15

Date of entry: 

2018-08-21

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Language: 

English