DHAKA, April 3 (dpa): International rights group Human Rights Watch has called on the Bangladeshi authorities to halt plans to repatriate Rohingya refugees to their native Myanmar.
Their lives and freedom are in danger there, the organization said.
A delegation from Myanmar recently visited Bangladesh for a fresh attempt at persuading the refugees to return.
According to Human Rights Watch, officials forced Rohingya to meet representatives of the Myanmar junta.
Some were told that the meetings were about possible resettlement in a third country.
Rohingya refugees have repeatedly stated that they want to go home, but only if they are given security and access to land, a livelihood, freedom of movement and rights to citizenship.
Bangladesh is home to around 1 million Rohingya in the world's largest cluster of refugee camps.
Hundreds of thousands had fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to the neighbouring country in 2017 when the military launched an offensive against the Muslim minority. The UN calls their persecution genocide.
Bangladesh hopes they will return to Myanmar. So far, several attempts to repatriate them have failed over security concerns. - dpa
