Myanmar told the United Nations refugee agency on Monday that its top priority was to bring back Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed on Monday to set up a “working group” to plan the repatriation of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh to escape an army crackdown, the Bangladeshi foreign minister said earlier.
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s Union Minister, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, told UNHCR’s Executive Committee meeting in Geneva: “Our next immediate priority is to bring back the refugees who have fled to Bangladesh.
“The repatriation process can start any time for those who wish to return to Myanmar. The verification of refugees will be based on the agreement between the Myanmar and Bangladesh governments in 1993,” he said. “Those who have been verified as refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem and with full assurance of their security and their access to human dignity.”
The status of Rohingya in Myanmar remains unsettled where they are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants.