UN Human Rights special rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee has assured Rohingya refugees full cooperation in their safe repatriation during a visit to several Rohingya camps in and around Ukhiya’s Balukhali on Sunday (Jan 21). This was the second time Yanghee Lee visited the refugee camp since August 24 crackdown on Rohingyas last year.
While talking to the Bangla Tribune, leader of Ukhiya’s Balukhali Rohingya camp Lalu Majhi said, “Yanghee Lee asked us whether we would like to go back to Myanmar. We told him we would if our conditions, including citizenship and guarantees of security in Myanmar, were met.”
She visited different sections of the refugee camp from 8:30 am to 1 pm on Sunday (Jan 21) and heard first-hand account on the atrocities committed against the Rohingyas and assured the refugees of safe rehabilitation.
On Saturday, she heard experiences of 10 Rohingya men and 10 Rohingya women in the reception centre of Teknaf Nature Park. Officials from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other foreign aid institutions were also present at that time.
Earlier, Yanghee Lee reached Dhaka on Wednesday and Cox’s Bazar on Friday afternoon. Although she was supposed to visit Myanmar this month, she has come to visit Bangladesh instead due to a ban imposed upon her by the Myanmar government.
Bangladesh has reached an agreement with Myanmar to send back the around 750,000 refugees who have arrived since October 2016 over the next two years, a process set to begin as early as this week.