UN expert warns against 'premature' return for Rohingya refugees

The UN special rapporteur to Myanmar has denounced Myanmar's "premature" attempt to repatriate hundreds of thousands of persecuted Rohingya from neighbouring Bangladesh, in her end of mission statement on human rights in the country.

After hearing the "unique and horrific" accounts of some of the 688,000 Rohingya refugees who fled a Myanmar army crackdown, rapporteur Yanghee Lee said on Thursday that "it became clear to me that the Rohingya population will not be moving from Bangladesh any time soon."

The Muslim minority who are denied citizenship and access to basic human rights would only return if they were "recognized as Rohingya, have rights as citizens, and can live in their place of origin without fear of being attacked."

She said Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya - who widely report rape, arson, and extrajudicial killings committed by Myanmar security forces - had the "hallmarks of genocide," in comments to a press conference in Seoul, echoing previous remarks by UN officials.

Yanghee Lee accused the country of an "established pattern of domination, aggression and violations against ethnic groups" and said while the Rohingya exodus has rightly provoked international outrage, Yanghee Lee said, "for many in Myanmar, [it has] elicited a tragic feeling of déjà vu."

Abuses against ethnic populations in Myanmar's Kachin and Shan states had also continued for decades, her report stated, with accounts of killings and displacement of civilians at the hands of the country's military continuing up until this month.

The Myanmar government barred Yanghee Lee from the country, claiming she was biased.

The special rapporteur visited Thailand and Bangladesh - both home to refugees from Myanmar - and will present her full report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 12.