Three Myanmar navy ships carrying 1,476 Myanmar nationals deported by the Malaysian authorities entered Myanmar waters last Thursday and are expected to reach Yangon within the next few days, according to The Global New Light of Myanmar. The deportees were sent back from Malaysian immigration detention centres after serving prison terms for overstaying and violating immigration regulations. This latest batch is the first group under a repatriation agreement that could cover as many as 5,000 people. The United Nations says conditions in Myanmar are not conducive to the safe and sustainable return of refugees, and Kelly E. Currie, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, has called on the Malaysian authorities to halt the deportations and instead work with the UN, even though Malaysia insists the process is voluntary for each individual. It remains unclear whether Rohingya Muslims are among those deported in this group.
