IT never rains but it pours is an old saw the Rohingya of Myanmar know too well.
But there is something the more than 800,000 refugees languishing in camps didn't know well enough: their personal data collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and handed over to Bangladesh have been shared with Myanmar's genocidal military regime as part of the repatriation process.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says UNHCR improperly collected and shared the refugees' personal information with Bangladesh, which shared it with the military regime for verification purposes. HRW says in its website that the NGO shared its findings with UNHCR in February and April. Responding to HRW on May 10, UNHCR denied any wrongdoing or policy violations. No Rohingya were put at risk, says the aid agency, implying that all of the more than 800,000 Rohingya had given their consent for their personal data to be passed to the Myanmar government.
HRW refutes the possibility, pointing to some Rohingya interviewed by the NGO denying such consent. Perhaps it's a case of language. Not many of the Rohingya are familiar with English, which seems to have been the language employed by UNHCR in the form that sought their consent.
Perhaps it's more than the issue of language. We are talking about people who have had their relatives massacred and maimed. One who is so traumatised is unlikely to agree to go back to a certain death.
Either way, UNHCR may do well to revisit the data collection and consent process. Bangladesh too shouldn't be too quick and trusting to hand over personal data of refugees to war criminals. No matter where the truth lies, the refugees may have already been put to risk. Here is why.
Myanmar isn't ready for the repatriation of the Rohingya. To send them back, even with consent, is akin to sending them back to be slaughtered. UNHCR and Bangladesh should know better.
We understand the economic and social pressure caused by the presence of the refugees there. Neither is good enough a reason to send them back to certain death.
Rich nations with deep coffers must help Bangladesh fund the Rohingya's stay there. The Rohingya aren't running away for a better life. They know what life in a refugee camp is. The Rohingya are running to safety.
Myanmar as we know it doesn't recognise the Rohingya as a people, let alone as citizens.
True, recently the National Unity Government, Myanmar's government in exile, promised the Rohingya all the rights that come with citizenship if they agree to take up arms against the military regime of Min Aung Hlaing.
This has all the makings of an invitation driven by desperation. Even if the invitation is sincere, it is hard to believe that Suu Kyi would have made such a 180-degree turn.
It is likely that she is not a party to NUG's seeming change of heart. There are other hurdles too. The military, which is a big part of Myanmar, is no friend of the Rohingya. It will never want the Rohingya to set foot in Myanmar again.
The Buddhist monks, especially the extremists, are vehemently opposed to the presence of the Rohingya. To return to such an inhospitable land would be a mistake. To force them back is worse.
It appears that UNHCR and Bangladesh have not learned from the forced repatriations of the Rohingya in the 1970s and 1990s and the persecution that followed.