Inside Story

What is Myanmar offering the Rohingya to return home?

Government delegation holds repatriation talks to convince Rohingya refugees to return to Rakhine state.

It has been almost two years since more than 700,000 Rohingya fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar.

The United Nations labelled the offensive “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” with soldiers accused of rape, murder and burning down Rohingya villages.

Since their escape, the mostly Muslim ethnic group has been crammed into the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, but Myanmar’s government is under pressure to take them back.

A high-level delegation from Myanmar visited Bangladesh’s southern Cox’s Bazar district on Saturday to persuade the Rohingya they should return to Rakhine state.

But so far the refugees have refused, demanding guarantees about their safety and for them to be granted citizenship.

So, what exactly is the Myanmar government offering?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Aman Ullah – Rohingya researcher and writer

Phil Robertson – Deputy director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch

Ronan Lee – Visiting scholar at the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University of London