RIGHTS GROUPS URGE MALAYSIA TO HALT ROHINGYA RETURNS TO MYANMAR

Thu 24 September 2026:

Civil society coalition warns of violence and forced conscription ahead of Sept. 29 first phase

More than 160 civil society organisations released a joint statement on Wednesday urging Malaysia to halt plans to deport Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, citing severe risks of ongoing violence and forced conscription.

The groups expressed “grave concerns” over Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s proposal to seek Myanmar junta leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing’s cooperation to send back Rohingya, a Muslim-minority community long persecuted in Myanmar.

Malaysia’s Home Ministry declined to comment, pointing to earlier remarks that the repatriation was voluntary and involved Myanmar nationals.

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First batch set for Sept. 29 as Kuala Lumpur courts Naypyidaw

Malaysia had around 193,800 refugees from Myanmar — including large numbers of Rohingya — as of February, according to the United Nations. UNHCR data put the Rohingya share at about 126,144 of that Myanmar caseload, making them the largest refugee community in the country. Malaysia says it plans to return 1,500 refugees on September 29 in a first phase.

Malaysia said Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 refugees without specifying if they were Rohingya. Officials have described the first movement as involving 1,476 people identified by Myanmar authorities and transported on two Myanmar Navy warships and a hospital ship.

Anwar has said he plans to invite Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing to Malaysia in return for accepting Rohingya refugees. He has framed the offer as diplomacy: recognition and engagement in exchange for staged returns, saying Malaysia cannot host the community indefinitely amid rising local tensions.

Groups call Min Aung Hlaing the “architect of genocide”

The statement said Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing is the “architect of genocide” against Rohingya for the military crackdown on the community, with the International Criminal Court currently weighing an arrest warrant against him.

That ICC process began after prosecutors in November 2024 sought a warrant for alleged crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution tied to the 2017 Rakhine operations. The application remains before Pre-Trial Chamber I.

Myanmar, which does not recognize Rohingya as an ethnic group, has previously said its military actions in Rakhine state that drove out large numbers of Rohingya were in response to militant attacks. Hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh in 2017; more than a million Rohingya remain in camps there, while smaller numbers continue to reach Malaysia by sea and overland.

Warning: returnees could be drafted by rival armed groups

The groups warned that upon returning to Myanmar, Rohingya could face forced conscription into multiple armed groups, including the military, the Arakan Army (AA), and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

Myanmar’s military is fighting the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group based in Rakhine state — from where large numbers of Rohingya have been driven out — that is seeking greater autonomy for the region. That fighting has intensified since the 2021 coup, leaving civilians caught between the junta, AA forces, and smaller Rohingya-linked armed groups.

Thousands of persecuted Rohingya flee Myanmar each year, often risking dangerous journeys on rickety boats and overland routes. UNHCR has said current conditions in Myanmar do not support safe, sustainable return. Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and treats most asylum seekers as irregular migrants, even as it hosts one of Southeast Asia’s largest Rohingya populations.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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