Rohingya in Bangladesh resist repatriation attempt

More than a million Rohingya Muslims live in refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. The poor South Asian country has struggled to deal with the humanitarian crisis, and living conditions in the refugee camps are dire. UN agencies say they have received only a fraction of the billions of dollars of aid money needed to run their operations in the area.

150 Rohingya Muslims were meant to be repatriated to Myanmar on Thursday, but protests put a stop to the operation. Hundreds of people chanted "we will not go" at a demonstration near the Myanmar border, and Bangladeshi authorities acknowledged that none of the refugees who were meant to be repatriated showed up or wanted to return.

Bangladesh had agreed with Myanmar to repatriate a total of more than 2,200 people, including Sitara Begum and her son Mohammed. The move has been criticized by the United Nations and aid groups. UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said sending the refugees back would be like "throwing them back to the cycle of human rights violations that this community has been suffering for decades."

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled army-led violence in Myanmar, mainly in the second half of 2017, are living in Bangladesh. The Rohingya refugees claim Myanmar soldiers and Buddhist civilians massacred families, destroyed villages and carried out gang rapes. UN investigators have accused the army of "genocidal intent."

Nurul Amin is on the first list of people to be repatriated to Myanmar. The 35-year old lives with his wife and family in the Jamtoli refugee camp, in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. "I will not go. My wife and other family members have gone elsewhere, they do not want to go," he said. Refugees refuse to go back to Myanmar out of fear for their safety.