A union minister of Myanmar has said at the United Nations that his country is prioritizing the repatriation of people who fled violence in northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh.
“Our priority now is to expedite repatriation and to create a more conducive environment for verified returnees,” Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar’s Union Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor, he said on Saturday, the fifth day of debate in the UN General Assembly.
Around a million Rohingya refugees, mostly Muslims, fled to Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh from Myanmar to escape atrocities by the security forces of the predominantly Buddhist nation.
Kyaw Tint Swe said repatriations would be carried out in line with a November 2017 agreement with Bangladesh.
He said some 300 people have already returned to Myanmar of their own volition “despite obstacles, including killings and threats by ARSA [Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army],” he said.
The minister dismissed demands to establish a “safe zone” in Myanmar as “neither warranted, nor workable.”
He called on Bangladesh to faithfully implement the bilateral agreement, which he described as “the only feasible way to resolve the issue of the displaced persons.”
Regarding accountability for the events in Rakhine state, Swe said that a military investigation is currently underway. “A recent announcement suggests that there will soon be a court martial.”
Swe also addressed an International Criminal Court (ICC) request to authorize an investigation into alleged crimes in Rakhine State.
He said, “Independent scholars have already identified the request is problematic in that it excludes alleged crimes committed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, with deliberate omission of the undisputed fact that their actions precipitated the current displacement.”
Other concerns cited include that the ICC prosecutor “relies heavily on human rights reports” which contain “factual errors” on both national and international law.
In Swe’s view, the ICC prosecutor is focused on the outflow from Rakhine state yet remains “silent” on what he called “the broader picture” behind the displacement, as well as the various parties involved.