美国国家公共电台 NPR The Refugees Who Don't Want To Go Home ... Yet

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. It seemed like an encouraging moment in one of the world's worst refugee crises. As we've been reporting for months, the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, were driven out of their home country Myanmar. The U.N. and the U.S. government called this ethnic¹ cleansing². The Rohingya have been packed into crowded refugee camps across the border in Bangladesh. Now, tomorrow, Bangladesh was planning to begin sending Rohingya back home as part of a deal to resolve the crisis. But this has now been postponed³. And human rights groups and many refugees themselves are questioning whether it's safe for them to return anyway. NPR's Jason Beaubien is in one of the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. And he's on the line. Hi, Jason.

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE⁴: Hey. How you doing?

GREENE: I'm OK. I can hear some of the sound around you. Describe just exactly where you are.

BEAUBIEN: So yeah. I'm in what now has become the largest refugee camp in the world. It's just across the border from Myanmar. I can actually see Myanmar from where I am here in this camp. And it just extends from miles and miles - these bamboo huts that people have erected⁵ with little plastic coverings over the top of them. And this is where the Rohingya are now - sort of hold up after being driven out of Myanmar primarily since August. Most of them came since August. Some of them came from before that.

GREENE: And so there was this deal that had looked like was going to send some of them finally back home. What happened here?

BEAUBIEN: Well, many people thought that this deal was overly optimistic to begin with. And they're saying now that there are problems with the logistics of this and just simply they weren't ready to go. There were also some other problems. Like the U.N. High Commissioner⁶ for Refugees wasn't involved in what was going to be the process of moving people back. UNHCR's normally the agency that sort of helps accompany people going back and deal with those types of transitions. This was something that was banged out between the Bangladesh government and the Myanmar government. And right now, they're just saying that they don't have the logistics in place. But in addition to that, many people - as a matter of fact, every refugee that I have asked has said that they won't go back under the conditions - the way this deal was was set up.

GREENE: I mean, I know so many were mistreated by the military. Is that the reason? I mean, they just feel like as hard as life might be in these camps, it might be worse if they return home.

BEAUBIEN: Absolutely. I mean, they worry that they will be killed. Basically, just a few months ago, they fled from what they say is the Myanmar military and pro-government supporters. And they say that there's nothing that's really changed that means that they would have safety if they go back. So that is the main thing. They just are fearing for their own safety if they returned at this point in time. They also have been basically stateless inside Myanmar. They're not considered citizens. They're viewed as essentially⁷ illegal immigrants despite the fact that they've been there for generations. And they say that that also really needs to change. They need to be treated as citizens and with dignity.

GREENE: As you look across this camp, Jason, I mean, what are the conditions? And how long would the Rohingya be able to live in camps like this if they can't go home?

BEAUBIEN: The conditions have improved dramatically from when people first arrived. You know, the World Food Program is now distributing food. They've set up, you know, toilets and outhouses. So things have improved a lot. But they're still incredibly simple shelters. They are stuck on hillsides that are just sand essentially. And there's great concern that when the monsoons⁸ come, this whole place is just going to turn into a mud pit. You know, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people crowded in here. So the conditions are not great, but people say at least here they feel safe.

GREENE: NPR's Jason Beaubien is in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh just across the border from Myanmar. Jason, thanks.

BEAUBIEN: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF OWSEY'S "I FELT HELPLESS LOOKING AT YOU THEN")

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

3 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

6 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 monsoons   

n.（南亚、尤指印度洋的）季风( monsoon的名词复数 )；（与季风相伴的）雨季；（南亚地区的）雨季

参考例句：

• In Ban-gladesh, the monsoons have started. 在孟加拉，雨季已经开始了。 来自辞典例句
• The coastline significantly influences the monsoons in two other respects. 海岸线在另外两个方面大大地影响季风。 来自辞典例句