dpa
Dhaka
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims demonstrated in Bangladeshi refugee camps on Sunday, demanding official recognition of their ethnicity and early repatriation to Myanmar with full citizenship rights.
The refugees carried placards, mostly inscribed with demands about going back home, at rallies organized simultaneously in 29 of the 34 tent camps in the south-eastern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar.
More than 1 million Rohingya Muslims live in squalid camps, where they fled after violence in neighbouring Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Nearly 750,000 crossed the border in 2017 after Myanmar launched a military crackdown that left unknown numbers of Rohingya Muslims dead or tortured, many with their homes torched.
The rally was organized on World Refugee Day, organizers said.
"As survivors of genocide in Myanmar, we are thankful to Bangladesh for sheltering us. Now, we want to return to our homeland, we don’t want to live as refugees,” said Noor Muhammad, one of the Rohingya community leaders who addressed a rally at Kutupalong camp.
He said the international community must support the refugees’ cause to go back home and compel the Myanmar authorities to ensure safety once they return home in northern Rakhine state.
Police estimate more than 10,000 people joined the rally, which lasted for nearly an hour, chanting "Go home” or "Let us go home.”
More than 890,000 Rohingya refugees are sheltering in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region, the biggest cluster of refugee camps in the world.
About 92,000 Rohingya refugees reside in Thailand, 21,000 in India, and 102,000 in Malaysia.
The Rohingya also make up a portion of Myanmar’s 576,000 internally displaced people. Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Shamsud Douza told Al Jazeera that Rohingya refugees wanted to remind the world about their conditions on the occasion of World Refugee Day on Monday.
"They have held peaceful demonstrations. Those were over before 12pm. From our side, we didn’t create any obstruction but our law enforcers closely monitored the situation,” he said.
UNHCR spokesperson Regina De La Portilla said most Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say they want nothing more than to return to Myanmar.
"But they also say that they do not feel it would be safe to do so yet. Today they demonstrated to show their desire to return and call attention to their needs,” she said.
De La Portilla, however, said the solution to the displacement lies in Myanmar.
"Rohingya refugees want to return, when they can do so voluntarily, in safety and dignity. This means when their rights are ensured. Currently, the situation in Myanmar is still fluid and conditions for a safe and sustainable return are not ensured,” she said.
"We must all work together, including UN agencies and the international community, to enhance our efforts to make that possible.”
Dhaka
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims demonstrated in Bangladeshi refugee camps on Sunday, demanding official recognition of their ethnicity and early repatriation to Myanmar with full citizenship rights.
The refugees carried placards, mostly inscribed with demands about going back home, at rallies organized simultaneously in 29 of the 34 tent camps in the south-eastern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar.
More than 1 million Rohingya Muslims live in squalid camps, where they fled after violence in neighbouring Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Nearly 750,000 crossed the border in 2017 after Myanmar launched a military crackdown that left unknown numbers of Rohingya Muslims dead or tortured, many with their homes torched.
The rally was organized on World Refugee Day, organizers said.
"As survivors of genocide in Myanmar, we are thankful to Bangladesh for sheltering us. Now, we want to return to our homeland, we don’t want to live as refugees,” said Noor Muhammad, one of the Rohingya community leaders who addressed a rally at Kutupalong camp.
He said the international community must support the refugees’ cause to go back home and compel the Myanmar authorities to ensure safety once they return home in northern Rakhine state.
Police estimate more than 10,000 people joined the rally, which lasted for nearly an hour, chanting "Go home” or "Let us go home.”
More than 890,000 Rohingya refugees are sheltering in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region, the biggest cluster of refugee camps in the world.
About 92,000 Rohingya refugees reside in Thailand, 21,000 in India, and 102,000 in Malaysia.
The Rohingya also make up a portion of Myanmar’s 576,000 internally displaced people. Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Shamsud Douza told Al Jazeera that Rohingya refugees wanted to remind the world about their conditions on the occasion of World Refugee Day on Monday.
"They have held peaceful demonstrations. Those were over before 12pm. From our side, we didn’t create any obstruction but our law enforcers closely monitored the situation,” he said.
UNHCR spokesperson Regina De La Portilla said most Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say they want nothing more than to return to Myanmar.
"But they also say that they do not feel it would be safe to do so yet. Today they demonstrated to show their desire to return and call attention to their needs,” she said.
De La Portilla, however, said the solution to the displacement lies in Myanmar.
"Rohingya refugees want to return, when they can do so voluntarily, in safety and dignity. This means when their rights are ensured. Currently, the situation in Myanmar is still fluid and conditions for a safe and sustainable return are not ensured,” she said.
"We must all work together, including UN agencies and the international community, to enhance our efforts to make that possible.”