06/05/2003

Refugees International Letter to High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers Calling for Renewed Commitment to Protection for Rohingya Refugees

Refugees International President Kenneth Bacon has written to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers calling for a renewed UNHCR commitment to protecting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. On a recent assessment mission there RI found that UNHCR was planning to phase out their material assistance and oversight of the repatriation process for 21,000 Muslin refugees from Burma. The plan in effect confronts the refugees with the impossible choice of accepting repatriation to Burma, where Rohingya refugees face systematic persecution, or depending on the government of Bangladesh to implement a local integration program, a program that the government objects to in principle and has little capacity to implement. RI is calling for UNHCR to maintain assistance and protection services for the Rohingya until an independent assessment of the feasibility of UNHCR's phase out plan is conducted.