Malaysia says Myanmar to take back 5,000 Rohingya refugees

Myanmar has agreed to repatriate 5,000 Rohingya refugees from Malaysia, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced Wednesday. This rare repatriation effort comes days after Malaysian authorities detained over 100 Rohingya refugees.

Malaysia is home to more than 215,000 refugees, with the Rohingya minority forming the largest community. "People ask why we do not simply send them back. Send them where? Myanmar had refused to accept them before," Anwar said, according to local media. "Now, because of our good relations with Myanmar, they have agreed to take back 5,000 from Malaysia."

The announcement follows the detention of more than 100 Rohingya refugees outside a UN refugee agency facility in Kuala Lumpur. A Rohingya rights group stated the refugees sought shelter after facing eviction threats from an informal settlement. Officials later confirmed the detainees had valid UN documentation and have since been released and sent to various locations in Malaysia.

Despite sheltering a large refugee population, Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognize refugee status. The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim group, fled Myanmar in 2017 amid a brutal military crackdown, an event now subject to a genocide case at the UN's top court.

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People ask why we do not simply send them back. Send them where? Myanmar had refused to accept them before. Now, because of our good relations with Myanmar, they have agreed to take back 5,000 from Malaysia.