Malaysia has begun returning nearly 1,500 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, despite warnings from the United Nations and rights groups that the country remains unsafe for their return.
Dozens of buses travelled under police escort to a stadium near the Lumut naval base in north-western Malaysia on Tuesday. The passengers were expected to undergo processing before being taken to the base and transported to Myanmar by ship.
Journalists were barred from entering the stadium. Malaysia’s Home Ministry said two Myanmar naval warships and a hospital ship would be used in the operation.
The Malaysian authorities have described the returns as voluntary. But rights advocates have questioned whether people held in detention can make a free decision to return to a country from which they fled.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it had no role in the operation and warned that continuing violence and conflict meant the conditions for safe and dignified returns did not exist.
“Any refugee return must be voluntary, based on an informed decision, and take place in conditions of safety and dignity,” the agency said.
Malaysia’s Home Ministry declined to comment on the warning, referring instead to its earlier statement that the returns were voluntary.
Rights groups call for Rohingya returns to be halted
More than 160 civil society organisations have called for the repatriation to stop, citing ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the risk that Rohingya could be forced into armed groups.
Doctors Without Borders also urged Malaysia to halt the operation and disclose who was being returned and the risks faced by each person. “Refugees should not be returned to places they’ve fled and where their lives are at risk,” the organisation said.
Nay San Lwin, co-chair of the Arakan Rohingya National Council, said the returns should not take place while fighting continued between Myanmar’s military and rebel groups, including the Arakan Army.
“The genocide has never stopped. Sending Rohingya back to this is not repatriation,” he said. “It is sending people back to a killing field. We call on Malaysia to halt all returns of Rohingya to Myanmar until it is safe.”
Myanmar’s army has repeatedly cracked down on the Rohingya, including during a wave of violence in 2017 that rights groups have described as genocide. Hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and other neighbouring countries.
Myanmar does not officially recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic community with roots in the country, instead describing them as “Bengalis” and portraying them as migrants from Bangladesh.
Malaysia had more than 126,144 Rohingya refugees as of February 2026, while Bangladesh hosts more than 1.2 million.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in July that Myanmar had agreed to accept 5,000 Rohingya. The first group of nearly 1,500 returned on Tuesday forms part of that number.
Myanmar’s government has promised “safe and dignified” returns, while Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has said people would not be sent back if they faced persecution or threats to their lives.
However, the conditions awaiting those who return remain uncertain. One 25-year-old returnee, identified as Ismail, said he had left his work at a fish market in Malaysia amid arrests and growing hostility towards Rohingya. Now without work in Yangon, he relies on relatives and still does not have full citizenship.
A Rohingya activist in Rakhine state, identified as Mohammad, said returnees could be sent to displacement camps in an area still affected by fighting and disease.
The operation follows mounting pressure on Rohingya in Malaysia. In July, authorities detained more than 100 people who gathered outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur after facing eviction from an informal settlement in Penang. They were later released after officials confirmed they held UN documents.
Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status. Mr Anwar has said he plans to invite Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military during the 2017 crackdown, to Malaysia to help accelerate the returns.
