Signature Campaign by Rohingya Refugees in Camps 24, 26, and 27
In the last week 3,450 Rohingya refugees from Camps 24, 26, 27 were told by UNHCR that we are in the list of refugees to be repatriated tomorrow. We are very concerned about how this secret list of names was created and why we are include on it. We never volunteer our names to go on the list.
It was a big surprise to hear repatriation begin on 22nd August. Less than 1 month ago our Rohingya leaders meet with a delegation from Government of Myanmar and ASEAN to start negotiating about going home. They agreed to meet again before 2 months to continue to talk. While we were preparing for this,suddenly Government of Myanmar and UNHCR started their own repatriation plan without consult.
We want to make it very clear to UNHCR, ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar, and the Government of Bangladesh that there will be no repatriation without talking to us first. As one of our brothers, Bodirul Islam from camp 26 said:
“There will be no repatriation without talking to us because going home is about our rights, so we must be included.”
Right now, the situation in Rakhine State is not safe for our return. We asked some people to explain why they will not return tomorrow and this is what they said:
“Fighting between AA and Myanmar army is still on going. So it is not safety for us to repatriate now.” – Baron Roshid (Elder) from camp(26).
“The Myanmar Government raped us, and killed us. So we need security. Without security we will never go back.” – Nosima (women leader) from camp (26).
“We need a real guarantee of Citizenship, security and promise of original homelands. So we must talk with the Myanmar government about this before repatriation.” – MvMD Islam camp (26).
We have collected signatures from many of the 3,450 people who are on the repatriation list to show our unity and to raise our voice against this repatriation (samples of signatures are attach to this statement). We also invite journalists to come and speak to representatives from camps 24, 26, 27 tomorrow at a media conference in Camp 26 to discuss this.
Details of media conference
Date: 22 August 2019
Place: Camp 26, Nayapara Repatriation office, located near CiC Office.
Time: 12: 00 pm to 01:00pm.
Contact no: 01852297343, 01870450839, 01884868739, 01885325588, 01824348112
