THE ROUND TABLE 2019, VOL. 108, NO. 2, 145–158 https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2019.1591766 Unwelcomed? The Effects of Statelessness on Involuntary Refugee Repatriation in Bangladesh and Myanmar Christopher Faulkner and Samuel Schiffer Department of Political Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Refugees are among the most vulnerable populations, often denied rights of residency, treated as hostile intruders, even forced into unsafe camps. This has been particularly true of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group which has fled Myanmar by the hundreds of thousands since 2012. Having found little refuge in Bangladesh, the group faces growing fears of involuntary repatriation. This is not the first time that the group has faced forced repatriation. What explains the shortcomings of past repatriations and why does the cycle persist? This paper contends that statelessness is a contributing factor in the continual failure of repatriation processes. An examination of the 1992–1997 repatriation of Rohingya refugees reveals that the condition of statelessness can undermine safeguards often granted to refugees, decrease incentives for refugees to return, and impair opportunities for long-term solutions, while exacerbating state and human security issues. An illustrative case of successful refugee repatriation in Angola suggests that the absence of statelessness can improve prospects for successful repatriation. Refugees; repatriation; statelessness; Rohingya; Myanmar; Bangladesh Introduction The politics of refugee repatriation are often complicated and can aggravate already volatile security concerns. Since 2005 the number of refugees worldwide has over doubled and this augmentation has posed daunting challenges for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the international community at large. In 2017, of the more than 68 million forcibly displaced persons, nearly 26 million were categorised as refugees (UNHCR, 2018a); and while the UNHCR has improved in its ability to confront challenges associated with returning refugees, the toolkit for successful repatriation is far from perfect. Repatriation is increasingly complex when considering stateless refugees. Although often used interchangeably, refugees and stateless persons are two distinct classifications each with their own UN convention outlining their respective rights and protections. The year 1951 saw the adoption of the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees while 1954 ushered in the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (UNHCR, 1951, 1954). Generally, their protections read similarly, but while refugees lack CONTACT faulknerc@knights.ucf.edu This article has been republished with a minor change to the abstract. This change does not impact the academic content of the article. © 2019 The Round Table Ltd