Myanmar Shifts Blame to Rohingya for Failed Returns as ICJ Hearings Continue

Photo: Popular News Journal

Arakan Now | 24 Jan 2026

As hearings continue at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Myanmar authorities are again claiming they were ready to receive Rohingya refugees, while placing responsibility on the refugees themselves for not returning from Bangladesh.

Daw Aye Aye Thein, Director at the Department of Immigration under Myanmar’s Ministry of Immigration and Population, said the government had prepared reception centers and resettlement plans, but that Rohingya in Bangladesh did not come back. Her remarks reflect Myanmar’s long-standing position that the stalled repatriation process is due to a lack of returns from the refugee side.

Rights groups and Rohingya activists reject this claim, saying Myanmar is shifting blame onto victims of the 2016–2017 military operations that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee. They argue that Myanmar’s proposed repatriation plans did not guarantee safety, freedom of movement, or citizenship, and instead would have placed returnees in tightly controlled camps similar to long-standing internal displacement sites in Rakhine State.

Myanmar says a bilateral repatriation agreement signed with Bangladesh in 2017 set conditions for return, including identity checks and voluntary consent. Critics say those conditions were restrictive and excluded many refugees, while failing to address core demands such as citizenship rights, security, access to livelihoods, and protection from future abuse.