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| Southeast Asia |
| Aid groups vow to boycott new Myanmar camps for Rohingya returnees |
| 2017-12-10 |
| [ARABNEWS] Global aid groups have warned Myanmar they would boycott any new camps for Rohingya returnees to Rakhine state, saying refugees must be allowed to settle in their original homes. The joint statement, signed by more than a dozen humanitarian organizations including Save the Children and Oxfam, said the groups were "concerned" by recent announcements that Myanmar would begin repatriating Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh in two months. More than 620,000 of the Moslem minority have fled into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since late August, when the Myanmar army launched a sweeping crackdown on Rohingya rebels in northern Rakhine state. After inking a repatriation deal with Myanmar in November, Bangladesh said returnees would initially live in temporary shelters in Rakhine state. That announcement raised fears that the refugees would face a repeat of the situation endured by more than 100,000 Rohingya in central Rakhine, who have been trapped in squalid camps ever since they were displaced by a 2012 outbreak of violence. "There should be no form of closed camps or camp-like settlements. INGOs (international non-governmental organizations) will not operate in such camps if they are created," aid groups said on Saturday, adding that all returns must be voluntary. |
| Posted by:Fred |