{"id":6074,"date":"2026-09-29T10:24:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=6074"},"modified":"2026-09-29T10:24:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T10:24:58","slug":"malaysia-begins-sending-back-rohingya-refugees-despite-safety-warnings-rohingya-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=6074","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia begins sending back Rohingya refugees despite safety warnings | Rohingya News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Malaysia has begun sending nearly 1,500 Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, describing their return as voluntary despite warnings from the United Nations and rights groups that Myanmar remains unsafe for them.<\/p>\n

Dozens of buses arrived under police escort at a stadium near the Lumut naval base in northwestern Malaysia on Tuesday, the AFP news agency reported. Journalists were barred from the grounds. The passengers were expected to be processed before being taken to the base and transported to Myanmar by ship.<\/p>\n

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The Myanmar army has repeatedly cracked down on the country\u2019s Rohingya minority, including a wave of violence in 2017 that many rights groups have described as genocide, and which set off a major refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and other neighbouring nations. Myanmar does not officially recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic community with local roots, instead describing them as \u201cBengalis\u201d \u2014 in effect, calling them Bangladeshi migrants.<\/p>\n

As of February 2026, Malaysia had more than 126,144 Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh hosts the most Rohingya refugees \u2014 more than 1.2 million.<\/p>\n

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in July that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya, leaving a question about who is being sent back. The nearly 1,500 picked for repatriation on Tuesday are part of the group. The Ministry of Home Affairs said two Myanmar naval warships and a hospital ship would be used.<\/p>\n

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had no role in the operation and warned that continuing conflict and violence in Myanmar meant conditions for safe and dignified returns did not exist. \u201cAny refugee return must be voluntary, based on an informed decision, and take place in conditions of safety and dignity,\u201d it told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

Malaysia\u2019s Home Ministry declined to comment on the warning, referring to its earlier statement that the returns were voluntary.<\/p>\n

Rights advocates question whether people held in detention can freely choose to return to a country they fled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe genocide has never stopped. Sending Rohingya back to this is not repatriation,\u201d Nay San Lwin, cochair of the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC), a group representing the Rohingya, told Al Jazeera. \u201cIt is sending people back to a killing field. We call on Malaysia to halt all returns of Rohingya to Myanmar until it is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that Malaysia\u2019s decision to send refugees back to Myanmar came at a time when intense fighting was taking place\u00a0between the army and rebel groups, including the Arakan Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Myanmar military has lost control of much of the Rohingya homeland, and its fighting with the Arakan Army is still ongoing, with Rohingya caught in the middle. Both the military and the Arakan Army are committing atrocities against the Rohingya,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ro Mayyu Islam, founding Chair of the Center of Rohingya Crisis Studies based in Cox\u2019s Bazaar, Bangladesh, also opposed the repatriation under the present conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not confuse repatriation with resolution. Moving Rohingya from Malaysian detention centres to Myanmar does not solve the Rohingya crisis. Address the conditions that forced us to flee, and then make the return genuinely safe, voluntary and sustainable,\u201d he told Al Jazeera from Cox\u2019s Bazaar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not asking the world to keep us refugees. We are demanding the right to return home as equal human beings with citizenship, security, dignity and fundamental rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has urged Malaysia to halt the returns and disclose who was being sent back and what risks each person faced. \u201cRefugees should not be returned to places they\u2019ve fled and where their lives are at risk,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n

More than 160 civil society organisations also called for the repatriation to stop, citing violence and the risk that Rohingya could be pressed into armed groups. Their warning comes as Myanmar\u2019s military fights the Arakan Army in Rakhine state, the region from which many Rohingya fled.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s government has promised \u201csafe and dignified\u201d returns for the Rohingya. Meanwhile, Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has said the country would not return people if they faced persecution or threats to their lives.<\/p>\n

For Rohingya who have already gone back, the question is what awaits them after arrival. Ismail, 25, told AFP he left his work at a fish market in Malaysia amid arrests and rising hostility towards Rohingya. Now jobless in Yangon, he relies on relatives and still lacks full citizenship. \u201cWe are the most discriminated people,\u201d he said. In Rakhine, a Rohingya activist identified as Mohammad feared returnees could be sent to displacement camps in a region still affected by fighting and disease.<\/p>\n

The returns follow growing pressure on Rohingya in Malaysia. In July, authorities detained more than 100 people who gathered outside UNHCR\u2019s office in Kuala Lumpur after facing eviction from an informal settlement in Penang. They were later released when officials confirmed they held UN documents, AFP reported. Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status.<\/p>\n

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A Rohingya refugee camp in Cox\u2019s Bazar, Bangladesh [File: Valeria Mongelli\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anwar has said he intends to invite Myanmar\u2019s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military during the 2017 crackdown, to Malaysia to help accelerate the returns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Malaysia has begun sending nearly 1,500 Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, describing their return as voluntary despite warnings from the United Nations and rights groups that Myanmar remains unsafe for them. Dozens of buses arrived under police escort at a stadium near the Lumut naval base in northwestern Malaysia on Tuesday, the AFP news agency…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t