Rohingya refugees: UN warns against hasty returns to Myanmar

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that peace and stability must be restored in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state before any Rohingyas can return from Bangladesh, under international standards on voluntary repatriation.

In this Sept. 21, 2017 photo, a Rohingya Muslim boy pleads for food near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh. Source: AAP

"It is critical that the returns are not rushed or premature," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a Geneva briefing.

"People can't be moving back in into conditions in Rakhine state that simply aren't sustainable."

Some 20,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to Bangladesh in November, and at least 270 so far in December, bringing the total since violence erupted on August 25 to 646,000, according to UNHCR and Leonard Doyle of the International Organization of Migration.