In a statement Thursday, the UN said the agreement aims to create the conditions required for the “voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable” return of Rohinyga to their former homes or wherever they choose.
Under the deal, which is expected to be signed next week, United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be given access to Rakhine State in western Myanmar for the first time since violence broke out last August.
However, refugees who escaped told of entire villages being burned, women raped and locals killed. The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted peoples in the world. The predominantly Buddhist Myanmar considers them Bangladeshi but Bangladesh says they’re Burmese. As a result, they’re effectively stateless.
“I am becoming more convinced that the crimes committed following 9 October 2016 and 25 August 2017 bear the hallmarks of genocide and call in the strongest terms for accountability,” said Lee said in March.
The United Nations said in its statement Thursday that UN representatives would be allowed into Rakhine State to “assess the conditions on the ground and carry out protection activities.”
A statement from the Myanmar Ministry of the Office of the State Counsellor on Thursday said the UN had been invited to take part “in various stages of return and resettlement.”
Source : Nbcnewyork