They fled burning villages, systematic rape and arbitrary killings. Now Bangladesh has signed a deal with Myanmar to return some of its hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.
Image: DW/ P. Vishwanathan
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Bangladesh will return to Myanmar refugees who fled ethnic violence in Rakhine state earlier this year, according to officials in both countries.
More than 600,000 Rohingya refugees are living in overstretched refugee camps in Bangladesh.
"The return shall commence within two months," Bangladesh announced in a statement on Thursday.
Myint Kyaing — a permanent secretary at Myanmar's ministry of labor, immigration and population — said the two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding to repatriate Rohingya refugees.
"We are ready to take them back as soon as possible after Bangladesh sends the forms back to us," she told Reuters.
Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with Bangladesh's foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday to sign the deal on the status of the Rohingya, as international pressure mounts on both countries. They have struggled to agree on how many of the Rohingya living in Bangladesh's overcrowded refugee camps should be repatriated back to Myanmar.
"This is a primary step," Ali said. "[They] will take back [Rohingya]. Now we have to start working."
About 600,000 Rohingya have crossed the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh since August, fleeing from a military crackdown that human rights groups have denounced as "ethnic cleansing."
On Wednesday the United States echoed the strong international condemnation of Myanmar's treatment of its Muslim ethnic minority.
"After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.
The Rohingya are a stateless ethnic group who have lived in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for centuries. They have endured widespread discrimination and are considered by many to be illegal immigrants.
Talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh come ahead of a visit to both nations from Pope Francis next week.
The leader of the Catholic Church has been outspoken in his sympathy for the Rohingya refugees, calling for peace and interfaith acceptance. He has denounced the plight of refugee children in Bangladeshi camps.
Rohingya children: Raped, kidnapped, orphaned
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the atrocities committed by militants and the army in Myanmar is hard to stomach. The most vulnerable are children, as John Owens' photo series shows.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Shot and stabbed
Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. "The day the military came, they burnt down the village and shot my mother as she was trying to escape. My father couldn’t walk, so they stabbed him. I saw this with my own eyes," says 10-year-old Mohammed Belal who managed to run away from his village.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Haunted by the trauma
Mohammed’s sister Nur also watched the slaughter. She and her brother now live in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Bangladesh. She can play there and gets regular meals, a stark contrast to her journey from Myanmar where she and her brother nearly starved. But she is still haunted by the trauma of the recent weeks. "I miss my parents, my home, my country," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Deep-rooted conflict
The conflict, which has been going on for 70 years and is rooted in the post-World War II social organization of the country, has claimed more than 2,000 victims since 2016, including the mother of 12-year-old Rahman, above. "They set fire to my home, and my mother was ill, so she could not leave," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Save the children
Dilu-Aara, 5, came to the camp with her sister Rojina after she witnessed her parents being murdered by the military. "I was crying all the time and the bullets were flying over our heads. I escaped somehow." The international aid agency Save the Children is helping minors who come to Kutupalong without parents. Children make up to 60 percent of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Hunted like animals
Jaded Alam is among the hundreds of kids who came to Kutupalong without parents. Fortunately, his aunt cares for him — and very well, he admits. Jaded grew up in a village called Mandi Para where he used to love playing football, but everything changed when the military attacked. "They told us to leave our home. When I was running with my parents, they shot them. They died on the spot," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Child abductions
Not all families have been separated during their plight, however. Rahman Ali has been scouring the refugee camp for weeks now after his 10-year-old son Zifad disappeared. Rumors of child abductions have swirled around the camp for years, and Rahman fears his son has fallen prey to human traffickers. "I can't eat, I can’t sleep. I’m so upset! It’s like I’ve gone mad."
Image: DW/J. Owens
"My mind is not normal"
When the shooting started, Sokina Khatun did all she could to protect her children — but she couldn't save Yasmine,15, and Jamalita, 20, who were in a neighboring village at the time. "Their throats were cut in front of their grandparents," she says. "I was numb, I couldn’t feel the pain. Right now my mind is not normal," she says. She managed to rescue nine of her offspring.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Attacked, raped and robbed
Yasmine thinks she might be 15 but looks considerably younger. In her village, she used to play with marbles and run in the nearby fields, but different memories haunt her now: The attack by Myanmar forces, the beating and murder of her beloved father and brothers, and the rape by a group of Burmese soldiers who also robbed her. "I felt lots of pain in my body," she says.
