UN urges Myanmar to create conditions for Rohingya return

The UN Security Council has urged Myanmar's government to step up efforts to create conditions that will allow Rohingya Muslims who fled a violent crackdown to safely return to the country from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The council stressed in a statement following closed briefings yesterday that progress is also needed by Myanmar on implementing agreements on relations with the UN refugee and development agencies and with Bangladesh on returning Rohingya.

Rohingya face official and social discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, which denies most of them citizenship and basic rights because they are looked on as immigrants from Bangladesh, even though the families of many settled in Myanmar generations ago.

Dire conditions led more than 2,00,000 to flee the country between 2012 and 2015.

The latest crisis began with attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security personnel last August.

The military responded with counterinsurgency sweeps and was accused of widespread human rights violations, including rape, murder, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes. Thousands are believed to have died and about 700,000 fled to Bangladesh. The UN and US officials have called the government's military campaign ethnic cleansing.

Security Council members again stressed "the importance of undertaking transparent and independent investigations in allegations of human rights abuses and violations."
The council "stressed the need to step up efforts, including through providing assistance to the social and economic development, in order to create conditions conducive to the safe, voluntary and dignified return of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in Rakhine state."
"I need dialogue, and for that I need open doors," she said, including to discuss "critical questions" and advise the government on "how they can also change the attitude of the communities on the ground."
Burgener told reporters, "I think Myanmar is not a country which is reacting quite on pressure, but it's up to the Security Council." Sweden's UN ambassador, Olof Skoog, the current council president, stressed the importance of council unity, though he said his country thinks progress has been "far too slow."