A/HRC/39/CRP.2 3. (a) An enduring catastrophe Impact of the “clearance operations” 1174. By September 2018, over 725,000 Rohingya had crossed the border into Bangladesh as a consequence of the 2017 “clearance operations”, joining those who had fled earlier. 2681 There are now over one million Rohingya living in the refugee camps. Bangladesh has played an important role, opening its borders and providing access to shelter, emergency assistance and protection. However, overall conditions in the camps are dire. The Rohingya are housed in temporary, inadequate shelters in densely populated camps, with no access to meaningful work, entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. Limited education opportunities for children and uncertainty about the future contribute to these difficulties. These factors increase vulnerability, in particular for women and girls, to trafficking and other exploitation. 2682 Notwithstanding the compassionate humanitarian response from Bangladesh, the camps there are not a sustainable or durable solution. Many Rohingya interviewees told the Mission that they wanted to return to Myanmar, albeit under conditions of security, justice and respect for their rights.2683 One interviewee from Gu Dar Pyin, Buthidaung Township, told the Mission: If the Government would accept us I would go back. I want the same rights as all other Myanmar citizens. I love my country so much. My father and mother are buried there. I have my paddy fields. Here in the camps it’s difficult. I do not want to spend my life sitting in this camp. I want to work. 2684 1175. According to Myanmar media reports, 30,000 non-Rohingya civilians were also displaced by the violence within Rakhine State.2685 By mid-September 2017, nearly 4,300 of them had reportedly returned to their homes.2686 It appears that a major project is being implemented to resettle those non-Rohingya displaced persons in Rakhine State who have not yet returned, with construction of new villages and houses underway, intended for these affected communities.2687 Details of some of this new construction, much of it on land previously inhabited by the Rohingya, are set out below. (b) Legal framework 1176. The right of refugees to return to their country of origin is recognized in international law. Article 13(2) of the UDHR, for example, provides that “everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”. The return of Rohingya to Myanmar must occur in full respect for the norms and standards of international human rights law and international refugee law. It must be in accordance with the key principles of voluntariness, dignity, and safety, and in line with the principle of non-refoulement. 2681 2682 2683 2684 2685 2686 2687 278 Inter Sector Coordination Group, “Situation Report Rohingya Refugee Crisis”, 5 September 2018. https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/is cg_situation_report_05_september_2018.pdf E.g. International Organization for Migration, “Thousands at Risk of Trafficking Amid Rohingya Refugee Crisis” (Press Release, 31 July 2018). BI-002, BI-014, BI-017, CI-002, CI-116, CI-118, CI-119, CI-133, CI-138, LI-065, LI-102, LI-103, LI-109, LI-110, LI-112, LI-122, LI-130, RI-011, RI-012, RI-013, RI-015. See also XChange, “Rohingya Repatriation Survey” (23 May 2018), http://xchange.org/rohingya-repatriation-survey, who undertook a quantitative study through 1,823 interviews with Rohingya in southern Bangladesh. Almost all respondents (99 per cent) said that they would go back only if certain conditions were met, with the majority mentioning citizenship of Myanmar with acknowledgement that they are Rohingya, freedom of movement and religion, and their rights and dignity restored. LI-065. Ministry of Information, “More than 4,200 IDPs from local ethnic villages return home” (13 September 2017), http://www.moi.gov.mm/moi:eng/?q=news/14/09/2017/id-11511 Ibid. Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine State, “Nearly 800 houses under construction for displaced villagers in Maungtaw” (News Release, 6 December 2017). http://rakhine.unionenterprise.org/latest-news-en/235-nearly-800-houses-underconstruction-for-displaced-villagers-in-maungtaw