A/HRC/39/CRP.2
reception centres has also been reported,2709 suggesting that freedom of movement will be
restricted.
Image dated 7 March 2018 showing increased security measures around Aung Zay Ya
reception centre. Nearby burned Rohingya villages are shown within the red lines.
1191. Returns in the current environment will result in further segregation and confinement
of Rohingya into controlled camps that will likely mirror those of central Rakhine. The
aftermath of the 2012 violence has seen the confinement of 132,000 Rohingya and Kaman in
displacement camps and sites in central Rakhine State. Despite a desire to return to their
home villages, they have not been allowed to leave these camps and sites for six years. The
conditions of these camps have been described above, and amount to undue restrictions of
freedom of movement as well as an arbitrary deprivation of their liberty.
1192. By September 2018, one year after the mass exodus of Rohingya started, the
repatriation plan had not commenced. On 14 April 2018, Government sources reported that
a Muslim family of five had returned voluntarily to Myanmar, 2710 been received at “Taung
Pyo Latwei” and accepted NVCs. Credible sources have dismissed the announcement as a
publicity stunt,2711 with some claiming that the family were not even Rohingya refugees. 2712
Bangladesh and UNHCR acknowledged that the alleged repatriation was not undertaken in
the context of the repatriation agreements. 2713
Lack of conditions conducive for return
1193. For the Rohingya who remain in northern Rakhine State, estimated in September 2018
to number between 200,000 and 240,000, circumstances remain extremely challenging, with
the continuing perpetration of serious human rights violations against them.
1194. The Mission interviewed a significant number of Rohingya who remained in northern
Rakhine State after the “clearance operations” from October 2017 until June 2018, and only
2709
2710
2711
2712
2713
282
V-067.
Global New Light of Myanmar, “Displaced persons return to Taung Pyo Letwe reception centre” (16
April 2018).
V-173, V-236.
V-236.
V-175, V-236.