[International] Nearly 1,500 Myanmar Migrants to be Repatriated, Returning to War-Torn Homeland from Malaysia
RtiTalk 小編18d ago
Nearly 1,500 Myanmar migrants are scheduled to arrive in their war-torn homeland from Malaysia today (4th) under a non-transparent repatriation operation.
According to Agence France-Presse reporters, hundreds of families gathered at the Myanmar Navy base in Thanlyin at dawn to pick up their relatives, with cars, taxis, and buses parked nearby.
Kyaw Myint, 55, said he was there to pick up his three grandchildren who had been detained in Malaysia for a year and a half, and whom he had not seen for six years.
Kyaw Myint now fears they will be conscripted into the military, "not just the military, but possibly ethnic armed groups."
A naval official told AFP that a ship carrying the migrants was scheduled to arrive around 7 a.m. (8:30 a.m. Taiwan time).
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the repatriation plan against a backdrop of anti-Rohingya sentiment, with concerns that persecuted Rohingya people might be among those being returned. However, this has not been confirmed.
According to the Myanmar government, three Myanmar Navy vessels departed from Malaysia on September 29th carrying 1,476 migrants – the first batch of the 5,000 migrants Myanmar agreed to accept, according to Anwar.
However, the United Nations has warned that the situation in Myanmar, which has been mired in civil war since the 2021 military coup, means that there is no guarantee these individuals can return home safely in accordance with international law.
According to Malaysian media reports, the arriving migrants include 27 children and 79 women, with the remaining 1,370 being adult males.
Rohingya people constitute the majority of Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, but Kuala Lumpur has not responded to AFP's inquiries about the number of people on board.
Further Reading
Malaysian Foreign Minister: Myanmar Willing to Accept 5,000 Refugees, Arranges Repatriation by Ship
Under the Shadow of Repatriation, Malaysian and Myanmar Refugees Ponder Their Fate
Malaysia Repatriates Myanmar Migrants, UN Worries About Safety and Human Rights Issues
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=235579
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