A team of Myanmar will be in the city on December 19 to take forward the process of forming a joint working group to start repatriation of Rohingyas living in Bangladesh, reports UNB. Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told this to reporters after a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris yesterday. A Joint Working Group was supposed to be in place within three weeks of signing the 'Arrangement' on return of Rohingyas. A specific bilateral instrument (physical arrangement) for repatriation will be concluded in a speedy manner, officials said. Earlier, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to take assistance from the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, in the process of repatriating the forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their homeland.

“The signing of the arrangement is an initial step....there are more steps. Both sides agreed to take assistance from the UNHCR in the Rohingya repatriation process. Myanmar will take its assistance as per their requirement,” he said.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed ‘Arrangement’ on Return of displaced Myanmar persons sheltered in Bangladesh on 23 November 2017 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The bilateral instrument was being negotiated by officials of the two countries for the last couple of months.

The ‘Arrangement’ stipulates that the return shall commence within two months Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has termed the Rohingya return deal bad one and urged Bangladesh and Myanmar to invite UNHCR to join in the drafting of a new tripartite agreement. “After the widespread atrocities, safe and voluntary return of Rohingyas will require international monitors on the ground in Burma,” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at HRW. This means, Frelick said, a central role for the UNHCR, the only UN agency with a statutory mandate to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of refugees.

Since late August 25, more than 645,000 ethnic Rohingyas have fled a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar’s security forces and sought asylum in Bangladesh. On November 23, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an “Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State” on behalf of “residents of Rakhine State” who crossed from Burma into Bangladesh after October 9, 2016 and August 25, 2017.