Malaysia: Repatriation not the answer. MSF urges Malaysia to stop unsafe Rohingya returns to Myanmar
“Stop treating repatriation of Rohingya as a solution when conditions are clearly unsafe,” says Javid Abdelmoneim, MSF's international president.
Despite perilous conditions, regional pressure and persistent danger, Malaysia plans to return nearly 1,500 refugees to Myanmar, including Rohingya people, around Sept. 29, 2026.
The move comes one year on from the United Nations-hosted High-Level Conference in New York on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. The conference goal was to propose “a comprehensive, innovative and concrete plan for a sustainable resolution of the crisis, including efforts to create a conducive environment for the voluntary, safe, sustainable and dignified return of Rohingya to Rakhine State in Myanmar.”
However, one year since the conference and Rohingya communities have seen too little action and too little accountability. But forced repatriation is not the answer.
“My message to world leaders is this: stop treating repatriation as a solution when conditions are clearly unsafe,” says Javid Abdelmoneim, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) international president. “Myanmar remains a place of extreme violence. Civilians are facing aerial bombardment, mass killings, forced recruitment and severe deprivation. Healthcare, food supplies, education and livelihoods are all being disrupted by conflict and insecurity.
“MSF activities, like those of others, have contracted drastically because of insecurity. This is not only about the ability to keep our patients and staff safe from bombs and shelling but also the relentless bureaucracy we’re faced with to secure the authorizations to respond, even as needs continue to escalate.”
“And yet, we’re still seeing dangerous moves towards return. In Malaysia, nearly 1,500 Myanmar refugees are at risk of being returned under a repatriation programme announced for the end of September. That’s deeply alarming. Let’s be clear. Return is not safe and it is not viable now. Rohingya people themselves are saying this. In our survey last year, 84 per cent of Rohingya patients in Bangladesh said they would not feel safe returning to Myanmar. What is needed now is concrete action.”
“Forced or premature returns must stop. Any returns must be truly voluntary, safe and dignified. Host countries must protect refugees and assess protection needs properly. This means identifying if people are at risk of persecution if they are returned to their home countries and upholding the principle of non-refoulement.”
“Humanitarian access [in Myanmar] must be expanded, assistance must be sustained and there must be real accountability for the violence Rohingya people, and all other conflict-affected communities in Myanmar continue to face.”
One year on, the situation for over one million Rohingya refugees living in limbo across the camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and those remaining in conflict-ravaged Rakhine State, remains dire and continues to deteriorate under global neglect.
Civilians in Rakhine State, and across several other areas of Myanmar, face extreme violence. Myanmar’s health system continues to be torn apart by the ongoing violence: medicines and medical supplies are often depleted, unable to reach facilities because of the conflict or blocked altogether resulting in severely disrupted access to healthcare.
