A Myanmar NGO (CSI) allegedly privileged by the intelligence of that country is active in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh despite having no approval by the authorities concerned. The Non-Government Organisation (NGO) named Centre for Social Integrity (CSI) is allegedly working against the repatriation process and discouraging Rohingya people to return to Rakhine in Myanmar.
Besides, the NGO is also allegedly involved in passing information from Bangladesh to the Myanmar authorities. According to the website (https://www.centerforsocialintegrity.org/) of CSI, the NGO was founded in 2016. The headquarters of the CSI is located at-No. 449(A1/Z), Moe Ma Kha Street, Bo Cho (2) Ward, Bahan Township, Yangon, Myanmar. The name of the Executive Director of CSI is Aung Kyaw Moe, who is a citizen of Myanmar.
On condition of anonymity, several officials of the government working in Rohingya camps said, the NGO named CSI is mainly working for the implementation and execution of the agendas of Myanmar government on Rohingya issue. Sources said, apart from financial aid from different western countries, the NGO allegedly is also supported financially by the Myanmar authorities.
According to officials of different security forces, the NGO is still appointing local staff without having required work permission and it also supplies information from Bangladesh to Myanmar authorities. Mirza Khalid Hossain Bidyut, a programme officer of the CSI, admitted that the NGO is a Myanmar based organisation.
Asked about the allegations against the NGO, the programme officer of the CSI said, being a lower level employee he was not aware whether the NGO was involved in information trafficking or carrying out anti-repatriation activities. “Communication goes on between the headquarters”, said Mirza Khalid Hossain Bidyut. Experts said, for the sake of making the Rohingya repatriation process successful, activities of the CSI should be stopped at any cost and it should be driven away from Bangladesh as soon as possible.
Kamal Hossain, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Cox’s Bazar District, admitted that the NGO named CSI does not have registration from the Bureau of NGO affairs and also does not have work permission in Rohingya camps. The DC said, “There is no scope of working here without registration or recognition.”
“We are working on it. We will investigate into the matter to know about how that NGO is working here without registration”, said DC Kamal Hossain and continued saying, “We will also inform the matter to the NGO affairs bureau.” It should be mentioned that activities of another Myanmar NGO named CPI have been stopped earlier for the same allegations against it. Not only that, at least 43 NGOs at home and abroad have been black listed so far and bans were imposed on the activities of all of those 43 organisations for their anti-repatriation roles.
It should be mentioned that around 11,00,000 Rohingya people, who were forcibly displaced from the Rakhine State in Myanmar, are now sheltered in 11 refugee camps for over two years. Despite the agreement between countries for Rohingya repatriation, Rohingya people could not be sent to their homeland due to unwillingness of the Myanmar government.