Rohingya refugees staged mass protests in camps in southeast Bangladesh on Thursday asking the world to help repatriate them to Myanmar, as they marked the fifth anniversary of a brutal Burmese military offensive that sparked an unprecedented exodus.

Officials from the United Nations, United States and other members of the international community also commemorated the occasion by expressing their support for the Rohingyas, who call August 25 “Genocide Remembrance Day”.

In about two dozen camps in Cox’s Bazar, the district where refugees are sheltering along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, thousands of people took part in rallies with the slogan “Hope is Home”.

“We don’t want to be refugees anymore. We want to go back to our homeland,” Mohammed Jubair, secretary general of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), said during a rally at Kutupalong camp in Ukhia, a sub-district of Cox’s Bazar.

“I call on the international community to exert more pressure on Myanmar for a safe repatriation.

The Rohingyas also demanded that those responsible for the bloody crackdown by the Myanmar military that began on August 25, 2017 be brought to justice and that those who were expelled be repatriated to Rakhine State in Myanmar with all dignity. and civil rights.

“The world already knows how the Myanmar army killed the Rohingyas. That’s why we can’t forget this day,” said Khin Maung, director of the Rohingya Youth Association, who lives in Cox’s Bazar.

“Now we live in camps. Food, living conditions, nothing is good. We have been here a long time. This is why we want to return to our villages, to our country, as soon as possible.

But the prospect of seeing stateless Rohingya Muslim refugees safely return to their villages and townships in their home state of Rakhine has faded due to the bloodshed that followed the coup across Myanmar after Burmese generals took power last year.

A young Rohingya who attended the Kutupalong rally said he and others were worried about what might await them if they returned home to Myanmar.

“We want to end such a refugee life. But the current situation in Myanmar is not safe enough, we want help from the global community,” said Abdur Razzak.

According to a Rakhine-based Rohingya human rights activist, some 600,000 Rohingya who did not flee to Bangladesh in 2017 have been facing tougher repression since the 2021 coup and their displacements in Bangladesh. within the state are even more limited.

“Currently, they are facing many difficulties. They are forbidden to visit other villages and they constantly face religious and ethnic discrimination,” said activist Zarni Soe.

“Now that the AA [Arakan Army] and the Myanmar army are fighting again in northern Rakhine state, we might even see worse things happen.

Around 740,000 Rohingya have settled in Bangladesh after fleeing a crackdown in Myanmar, bringing the number of refugees in the camps to around 1 million. The refugee population concentrated in this corner of Bangladesh is the largest in the world.

On Thursday, a spokesman for Myanmar’s junta declined to comment on the anniversary when contacted by RFA Burmese.

General-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, met with Noeleen Heyzer, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, last week where they discussed repatriation, according to a transcript provided by the Foreign Ministry.

“The major problem here is that we cannot accept the term ‘Rohingya’ which they themselves have claimed when they are not Bangladeshi but of Bengali race. We will only accept refugees in Bangladesh after a thorough verification process in accordance with our current legislation, but not through international requirements,” the General-in-Chief said at the time.

“We are not saying that we will not take over the Bengalis. We will accept [them] if they can prove that they have resided in the country.

Heyzer, who later traveled to Bangladesh, released a statement on Thursday in which she called on Myanmar “to create conditions conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return to Myanmar of all refugees and forcibly displaced persons.” .

“The rights and security of the Rohingya people must be guaranteed and integrated into Myanmar-led solutions towards a peaceful, democratic and inclusive future guided by the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State,” Heyzer said.

After meeting Heyzer in Dhaka, Enamur Rahman, Bangladesh’s Minister of State for Disaster Management and Relief, expressed hope that the Rohingya would soon be able to return home to Rakhine.

“We hope the repatriation will start in September or October, at least on a small scale,” he told reporters.

Addressing a seminar in Dhaka, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen noted that Bangladesh has so far taken in Rohingyas without a single one being repatriated to Myanmar.

Shortly after the exodus began, Bangladeshi and Myanmar officials agreed in November 2017 to begin voluntary repatriation three months later – but all attempts since then have failed.

Bangladesh faces a protracted security crisis due to the presence of so many refugees in the southeast, he said, adding that the only solution is the safe, voluntary and sustainable repatriation of Rohingyas.

International support for the Rohingya

On the eve of the fifth anniversary, foreign ministers and officials representing the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway and the European Union collectively condemned the atrocities past and present allegedly committed by the Myanmar military.

“Five years ago, the Myanmar military launched a violent attack on Rohingya communities in Rakhine, killing, raping and torturing thousands of Rohingya men, women and children,” they said in a statement. joint ministerial statement.

The ministers also expressed concern over the establishment by the UN Fact-Finding Mission of “ongoing patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses, many of which constitute serious crimes under the international law “.

“The same actors who committed these reprehensible actions led the military coup in February 2021 and continue today to perpetrate atrocities against political dissidents and vulnerable populations, including other ethnic and religious minorities across Myanmar, and has been for decades,” the ministers said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was among the top diplomats offering support to the Rohingya.

“The United States stands with the government of Bangladesh and other governments hosting Rohingya in the region. As an essential component of a comprehensive international humanitarian response, we are working to significantly increase the resettlement of Rohingya refugees from the region, including Bangladesh, so that they can rebuild their lives in the United States,” a- he said in a statement.

Several hundred Rohingya families are in the United States and many have settled in Chicago and Milwaukee, according to US media reports.

The US Holocaust Museum in Washington also released a statement to mark the anniversary.

“Five years after the genocide, the Rohingya community faces a precarious future,” said Naomi Kikoler, director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for Genocide Prevention at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Those living inside the country face ongoing threats, and those who have fled abroad cannot return until the risk of genocide has diminished.

“The United States and other governments must redouble their efforts to support the Rohingya, hold perpetrators of genocide accountable, and ensure that Rohingya and others can forge a peaceful future in Burma,” she said. declared, using the old name of Myanmar.

The United Nations and the United States have called the brutal attacks on the Rohingya by government forces and militiamen a genocide.

Elsewhere, officials and lawmakers from ASEAN countries have called on the Southeast Asian bloc to step up pressure on member state Myanmar.

“ASEAN must do more, with a real sense of urgency,” Malaysia’s foreign minister said at an event with Rohingya activists to commemorate the anniversary.

“The international community should not just see the Rohingya as helpless victims, but as people with their own identity, culture and dignity, who are resilient and able to determine their future.

Mercy Barends, the Indonesian representative to ASEAN parliamentarians for human rights, said Min Aung Hlaing and his allies should be brought to justice and prevented from remaining in power.

“They took the international failure to act five years ago as a license to illegally seize power from elected officials on February 1, 2021 and commit new atrocities that continue to this day,” Barends said in a statement. a statement.

“It is time for ASEAN governments and their partners to take swift and tough action against the perpetrators of the gravest crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people.

Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights chief who leaves her post at the end of August and who met the Rohingya during a four-day trip to Bangladesh last week, also marked the anniversary of the start of exodus to the South Asian nation.

“[T]longing for their homeland, the desire of so many Rohingya to return home resonated deeply with me. Unfortunately, the conditions necessary for them to be able to return home in a voluntary, dignified and sustainable manner are not yet in place,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur and RFA Myanmar contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA affiliate news service.