Myanmar agrees to take back 5,000 Rohingya from Malaysia

Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya currently residing in Malaysia. This decision comes as part of a rare repatriation initiative after a long period, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

In a statement on Wednesday (July 29), he said that while Myanmar had previously refused to take back Rohingya, the current good relations between the two countries have led to the agreement to take back 5,000 individuals.

Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities recently detained over 100 Rohingya outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur. They were later released after it was found that all of them had valid UNHCR registration documents.

According to UN data, over 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers currently live in Malaysia, of whom more than 126,000 are Rohingya, making them the largest refugee population in the country.

Although Malaysia hosts a large number of Rohingya, it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not provide formal legal recognition to refugees.

It may be noted that following the military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State in 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to countries including Bangladesh and Malaysia. Allegations of crimes against humanity and genocide committed during that crackdown are currently being heard at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).