The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has rejected an offer
by Burmese President Thein Sein that the UN agency take responsibility for
resettling Burma’s Rohingya community in third countries.
On Wednesday, Burma’s
presidential office released a statement, citing that it will hand over
responsibility for the Rohingya minority to the UN’s refugee agency in Arakan
State, adding that it is also “willing to send the Rohingyas to any third
country that will accept them.”
UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres, who
met Thein Sein in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, told reporters at a press conference
in Rangoon the following day that the UN’s resettlement program is totally
unrelated to the situation in Arakan State.
Guterres said, “The resettlement
programs organized by UNHCR are for refugees who are fleeing a country to
another, in very specific circumstances. Obviously, it’s not related to this
situation.”
The Portuguese diplomat said that
the UNHCR does not discriminate and will continue to provide humanitarian
assistance to both communities—Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists—who
have been affected by the recent sectarian violence in Arakan State.
The UN refugee agency estimates
that 91,000 people have been affected by the violence and says 82 temporary
camps have been set up to accommodate the displaced.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on
Thursday, Kitty McKinsey, the regional spokesperson for the UNHCR in Asia,
said, “Resettlement under the UHNCR program is only for recognized refugees.
And people cannot be refugees in their own country. So it is not logical to
talk about resettlement for people who are in their own country,” said
McKinsey.
She also said that the UNHCR has
no policy to register people as refugees if they are domestically displaced in
their own country.
Apart from Rohingya issue, Thein
Sein and Guterres also discussed plans for bilateral cooperation in handling
the affairs of Burmese refugees at the Thai-Burmese border, as well as Kachin
war refugees in northern Burma.
Guterres is planned to leave for
Bangkok on Friday to meet with Thai Premier Yingluck Shinawatra to discuss the
return of more than 150,000 Burmese refugees who are currently sheltered at
nine camps along the Thai-Burmese border.
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