Rohingya repatriation would risk lives, Malaysia group says

Malaysia's main Rohingya rights group urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government on Thursday to halt the planned repatriation of about 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers to Myanmar, saying their lives would be at risk.

The Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation in Malaysia asked Anwar and the home minister to consult the UN refugee agency and Rohingya representatives before any repatriation. The group said sending Rohingya back would violate the international law principle of non-refoulement, which bars returning people to places where their lives are threatened.

The appeal came a day after Anwar said Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya from Malaysia. Media outlets including the New Straits Times previously quoted him as saying Myanmar had earlier refused to accept them but had agreed because of Malaysia's relations with Myanmar.

The rights group said Rohingya are stateless and cannot return safely while they face what it called ongoing genocide in Myanmar. It also said repatriated Rohingya could be forced to join Myanmar's military without training and be used as human shields in fighting with other ethnic groups.

Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN refugee agency, including more than 126,000 Rohingya. The Rohingya are the country's largest refugee community.

The repatriation push followed the detention this week of more than 100 Rohingya who had gathered outside the UN refugee agency's office in Kuala Lumpur after being threatened with eviction from an informal settlement in northern Penang state. Officials later confirmed that the detainees had valid UN agency documentation. A senior police official said Wednesday that the group had been released and sent to various locations around Malaysia after final verification.

Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status. Many Rohingya fled Myanmar during a 2017 military crackdown. Myanmar's leaders have said the Rohingya are descendants of immigrants from Bangladesh and that the crackdown targeted a militant uprising. The campaign is the subject of a genocide case at the United Nations' top court in The Hague.