The Associated PressFILE – In this Jan. 22, 2018, file photo, Rohingya children and refugees raise their hands and shout that they won’t go back to Myanmar during a demonstration at Kutupalong near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Officials from the U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh’s government say few Muslim Rohingya refugees have responded to plans for their repatriation to Myanmar, and all who did say they don’t want to go back. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
A Bangladeshi refugee official says the heads of some 200 Rohingya families interviewed by officials from the U.N. refugee agency and the government have told them they will not go back to Myanmar unless their demands for citizenship and safety are ensured.
Refugee official Khaled Hossain said Wednesday that they discussed the families’ concerns and asked them why they don’t want to go back. The repatriation is scheduled to begin Thursday but is unlikely to happen if no one comes forward voluntarily.
Myanmar has cleared 3,450 refugees from 1,056 families to start the repatriation from Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, where about 1 million Rohingya refugees are sheltered.
On Tuesday, the response for the “intention interview” was sluggish, with only 21 families saying they won’t go back.