Nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals arrive after Malaysia repatriation

Nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals deported from Malaysia have arrived in Yangon despite warnings from the United Nations refugee agency and human rights groups that conditions in Myanmar remain unsafe for returnees. The 1,479 people arrived in southern Yangon early Sunday after being transported from Malaysia on two navy warships and a hospital ship, according to Nay Lin Tun, a regional government minister. They are the first group in a planned repatriation of about 5,000 Myanmar nationals.

Malaysia’s Home Ministry said 10,388 other Myanmar nationals were being held in immigration detention centres. Malaysia says the returnees agreed to go voluntarily. But the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said its staff were not permitted to meet the detainees to establish whether their decisions were “genuinely free and informed”.

Human rights groups have questioned whether people held during immigration raids had a meaningful alternative to returning. The reports differ over the legal status of those sent back. South China Morning Post, citing Myanmar state media, said the returnees included 86 women and had been convicted of illegal stay and other immigration violations.

Myanmar Foreign Ministry official Han Win Aung said the group consisted of “genuine citizens”. Al Jazeera said it remained unclear how many, if any, were Rohingya refugees or asylum seekers. That uncertainty is significant because Rohingya make up a large proportion of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia and face persecution and denial of citizenship in Myanmar.

Malaysia hosts about 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR, including more than 126,000 mainly Rohingya people. Malaysia is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention and treats refugees as undocumented migrants. UN officials and rights groups have warned that returnees could face persecution or forced military conscription in an active conflict zone.

Kelley E. Currie, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said Malaysia had obligations under international law not to return people to situations where they faced a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious abuses. She assessed the risk of unlawful refoulement as substantial.

Myanmar has been in civil war since the military seized power from the elected government in February 2021. Al Jazeera, citing the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, said more than 100,000 people had been killed since the coup. The country’s military-backed leader, Min Aung Hlaing, was sworn in as president in April and is expected to visit Malaysia to discuss refugee and migrant issues.

The repatriations followed rising pressure on refugee communities in Malaysia. Al Jazeera reported that immigration raids in 2026 led to the detention of more than 50,000 refugees and said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the returns in July amid growing anti-refugee sentiment, particularly toward Rohingya people. Malaysia has said refugees impose financial, social and security burdens and is preparing a second group of more than 3,500 people for return.

Myanmar pledged last month that returns would be safe and dignified. Rights specialist Yap Lay Sheng of Fortify Rights told AFP, however, that there was no certainty about how the military-backed authorities would treat those who arrived. The supplied reports do not say where the returnees were transferred after reaching Yangon or whether any were immediately detained, leaving the practical conditions of their repatriation unresolved.