Lumut (Malaysia) (AFP) - Malaysia began sending back around 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday, the government confirmed, as it launched a scheme that rights groups say may endanger migrants by returning them to the war-torn country.

The group is the first of 5,000 Myanmar citizens that Kuala Lumpur says agreed to “voluntary” repatriation from detention centres amidst a huge uptick in anti-migrant sentiment in Malaysia.

Both the UN and advocacy organisations voiced concern on Tuesday, saying the group could face dangerous homecomings in Myanmar, where a civil war has raged since 2021.

Neither Malaysia nor Myanmar have officially clarified the number of Rohingya in the first group, and there is worry they may be returned to a country where they face persecution rights groups say amounts to genocide.

On Tuesday afternoon, AFP reporters saw three ships belonging to the Myanmar navy departing from Malaysia’s Lumut naval base around 5:00pm (0900 GMT).

This included the auxiliary support and hospital ship Than Lwin and the amphibious landing platform ship Moattama, which had been used in a previous repatriation exercise.

Malaysia’s interior ministry confirmed that the repatriations were under way.

“Today, 1,476 individuals have commenced phase one of the repatriation programme, based on a list submitted by the Myanmar government via an official diplomatic note,” it said in a statement.

It added that the repatriation was part of the government’s plan to resolve the “legacy issue” of foreign asylum-seekers in Malaysia – of which it said 95 percent were from Myanmar.

“This long-standing issue has imposed a significant financial burden on the nation, triggered serious social crises, and created tangible security threats for the Malaysian people,” the statement said.

But in Geneva, UN rights chief Volker Turk urged Malaysia to stop the process immediately, saying nobody should be deported to Myanmar, given the severity of the situation on the ground.

“This is no time to return anyone forcibly to a country plagued by egregious human rights violations and abuses, and where many cruelly face the real risk of more of the same violence again upon their return,” he said in a statement.

“The conditions are far from safe and sustainable, and it is deeply questionable whether any return in these circumstances can be considered truly voluntary.

“The hundreds of thousands who have fled Myanmar in fear for their lives must be protected, and their fundamental human rights to seek asylum and protection abroad properly considered.”

- ‘Dignified return’ -

Earlier on Tuesday, dozens of buses arrived under police escort at the Majlis Perbandaran Manjung stadium near the Lumut naval base in northwestern Malaysia, AFP correspondents saw, where the migrants were processed.

A Myanmar security source, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media, said the boats are due to dock at Thanlyin Navy Base just south of Yangon around the end of this week.

Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority, make up two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, according to the United Nations.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced in July that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 members of the Rohingya.

The plan was announced after authorities detained more than 100 Rohingya who had gathered outside the UN refugee agency’s office in Kuala Lumpur.

They were seeking help after being threatened with eviction from an informal settlement in northern Penang state.

They were later released after officials confirmed they held valid UN documentation.

Myanmar earlier this month pledged “safe and dignified” returns for its citizens displaced abroad, after criticism from the UN and rights groups.

- ‘Reputation and integrity’ -

Last week more than 160 civil society groups in a joint statement called upon the Malaysian government to “immediately halt the deportations,” pending talks with civil organisations about the situation on the ground in Myanmar.

Anwar said he would invite Myanmar’s coup leader-turned-civilian president Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit to help expedite the repatriation process.

But the civil groups urged that “Malaysia’s engagement with the junta must not come at the expense of its own reputation and integrity.”

Malaysia, which shelters one of Southeast Asia’s biggest refugee populations, is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status.

Malaysia’s approach, however, “remains grounded in the values of compassion and the ASEAN spirit of family, ensuring that actions are carried out in an orderly, responsible, and humane manner without compromising national security and sovereignty,” the interior ministry said.

AFP fact-checkers have found that Rohingya refugees in Malaysia have been targeted by online disinformation campaigns that rights advocates say are fuelling xenophobia and intimidation.

Many of the Rohingya escaped Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

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