Rohingya Muslims carry their belongings as they move after recent violence in Sittwe. (PHOTO: Reuters)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has rejected an
offer by Burmese President Thein Sein that the UN agency take
responsibility for resettling Burma’s Rohingya community in third
countries.
On Wednesday, Burma’s presidential office released a statement,
citing that it will hand over responsibility for the Rohingya minority
to the UN’s refugee agency in Arakan State, adding that it is also
“willing to send the Rohingyas to any third country that will accept
them.”
UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres, who met Thein Sein in Naypyidaw on
Wednesday, told reporters at a press conference in Rangoon the following
day that the UN’s resettlement program is totally unrelated to the
situation in Arakan State.
Guterres said, “The resettlement programs organized by UNHCR are for
refugees who are fleeing a country to another, in very specific
circumstances. Obviously, it’s not related to this situation.”
The Portuguese diplomat said that the UNHCR does not discriminate and
will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to both
communities—Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists—who have been
affected by the recent sectarian violence in Arakan State.
The UN refugee agency estimates that 91,000 people have been affected
by the violence and says 82 temporary camps have been set up to
accommodate the displaced.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Kitty McKinsey, the
regional spokesperson for the UNHCR in Asia, said, “Resettlement under
the UHNCR program is only for recognized refugees. And people cannot be
refugees in their own country. So it is not logical to talk about
resettlement for people who are in their own country,” said McKinsey.
She also said that the UNHCR has no policy to register people as
refugees if they are domestically displaced in their own country.
Apart from Rohingya issue, Thein Sein and Guterres also discussed
plans for bilateral cooperation in handling the affairs of Burmese
refugees at the Thai-Burmese border, as well as Kachin war refugees in
northern Burma.
Guterres is planned to leave for Bangkok on Friday to meet with Thai
Premier Yingluck Shinawatra to discuss the return of more than 150,000
Burmese refugees who are currently sheltered at nine camps along the
Thai-Burmese border.
Source :http://www.irrawaddy.org
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