UMN to Myanmar is the ultimate goal of Bangladesh and most of the Rohingya themselves. Stated differently, more pronounced than any feared “pull factors” in Bangladesh are “push factors” from Myanmar. As one humanitarian official told RI, of the new arrivals, “None came to Bangladesh willingly. All left something – property, family, cows.” Or as Nur Mohammed, 27 and living in Balukhali for six months, told RI, “Even if you give us a gold house, we want to go home.” Myanmar and Bangladesh have a long history of disagreement and contention over displacement and return of Rohingya, including periods in the 1970’s and 1990’s when tens of thousands of Rohingya were repatriated. Following the recent crisis, Myanmar sent a high-level envoy to Bangladesh to discuss the matter in January 2017, and a lower level team of Myanmar officials has reportedly visited some of the Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh. In an interview with the BBC in April 2017, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi stated that the Rohingya who have fled since October 2016 were welcome to return and would be safe. “I saw it with my own eyes: babies and old men thrown into the fire, burned alive.” – Ahmed, age 16, who showed RI his own scars from being cut by Myanmar security forces. General evidence of abuses has been corroborated not only by numerous eye witness accounts but also the physical results of the abuses. Health workers in Bangladesh described to RI a spike in treatments for gunshot and stab wounds and, to an even greater extent, for sexual abuse and depression directly related to what happened in Rakhine State. Rohingya in Bangladesh also live agonizingly close to their home, some within sight of the border from their makeshift shelters. As Ahmed, the 16-year-old from Maungdaw said, “Whenever I see the other side of the Naf River, I cry and miss my homeland.” One health worker told RI he has seen several children who witnessed killings and who, as a result of that trauma, often refuse to eat. As Farida*, a 30-year-old mother, (see story box) put it more poignantly, “Remembering is a kind of disease.” Root Causes Talks between the Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh should of course be encouraged, but return should only take place in conditions of safety and dignity, with an outcome that ensures the rights of the Rohingya within Myanmar are upheld and protected. Thus, while recognizing their responsibility to provide refuge to a community that has suffered such brutal treatment at the hands of the authorities in Myanmar, the Government of Bangladesh should continue to engage with Myanmar’s leadership and urge it to address the plight of the Rohingya. This should be done primarily through further high-level talks but also through less direct engagement such as educational and cultural exchanges and regular interaction of officials with similar mandates at the provincial and local levels, especially those likely to be on the frontlines of any further population movements - namely border guards. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Government of Bangladesh’s engagement with Myanmar has been and will continue to be central to addressing the challenge of Rohingya in Bangladesh. It is the treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar which has been the primary cause of arrival of Rohingya in Bangladesh and return of refugees and Meanwhile, the Government of Bangladesh should continue to work with multilateral partners on issues surrounding the Rohingya, including by allowing access for the UN fact-finding mission to collect statements from Rohingya who fled violence in Myanmar. 16 www.refugeesinternational.org