Photo: MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPUA repatriation agreement may be the first step, but without political will to back it up, the agreement is hollowAfter agreeing to take back the displaced Rohingya, and even making a deal with Bangladesh to do so, Myanmar has failed, again and again, to create conditions conducive to safe repatriation. Bangladesh has known about the scale of the problem for quite some time, but now, even the world community has come to see clearly Myanmar’s lack of any genuine desire to guarantee safety for the Rohingya. A repatriation agreement may be the first step, but without political will to back it up, the agreement is hollow. To the Rohingya on our side of the border, even the difficult conditions in the refugee camps are better than the prospects they face back in their homeland. The world needs to hold Myanmar accountable -- the refugee crisis has gone on long enough.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 19, 2019 15:11 UTC