Since its rise to power, the military government in Burma has persecuted ethnic minorities such as the Rohingyas, Burmese Muslims. More than 250,000 Rohingyas took refuge in Bangladesh in 1991-92 to escape human rights abuses. Burmese authorities regularly destroyed Rohingya homes and mosques, subjected men to forced labor and physical abuse, and raped Rohingya women. By July of 1996, about 200,000 Rohingya refugees had returned home to Burma, leaving only 50,000 others in camps in Bangladesh. However, some observers have charged that their return has not been fully voluntary.
International law prohibits the forced return of refugees to a country where they fear persecution.
Forced return violates a refugee's fundamental human right to flee to safety. However, when conditions change and individuals are no longer in danger, their refugee status ends and they can be forced to return to their country of origin. While many officials claim that conditions in Burma have improved and the Rohingyas no longer have a well-founded fear of persecution, observations on the ground do not fully support these claims. In early 1996, even while the controversial repatriation continued, an estimated 10,000 or more Rohingyas entered Bangladesh. While many of these new arrivals apparently have come to Bangladesh for the first time, some of them are former refugees who had previously returned to Burma.