"The efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to encourage a "dialogue" between the refugees and the Myanmar government has sparked fierce criticism from Rohingya activists who accuse the bloc of whitewashing the Myanmar military's crimes and legitimising its deeply flawed repatriation plans. A team from the humanitarian arm of the 10-member trade bloc joined a Myanmar government delegation on a visit to the camps last week in a bid to launch fresh repatriation talks with Rohingya leaders and activists. Almost 730,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh and arrived in Cox's Bazar in August 2017 after fleeing military-led massacres in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. However, relations between members of the Rohingya and those who are supposed to help them have often been fraught. The United Nations's refugee agency, UNHCR, has sown mistrust by signing secret repatriation deals with Myanmar and pushing an identity card scheme that many Rohingya opposed, leading to alleged intimidation and violence when security forces tried to get them to sign up. Rohingya refugees reject Myanmar delegation's offer to return (2:34) Bangladesh authorities, praised for their generosity in hosting the Rohingya, imposed severe restrictions on the refugees, preventing them from moving freely, getting an education, earning a living and denying them official refugee status. At a meeting during the visit by the team, a Rohingya youth activist asked the ASEAN visitors what they were doing to help some 128,000 Rohingya in Rakhine state who are trapped in disease-ridden detention camps..."