Plans to begin the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh back to Myanmar next week are premature and have left the community in the world’s largest refugee camp “terrified”, according to aid groups.

Despite previous commitments that the return of Rohingya refugees would be on a safe, dignified and voluntary basis, the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh announced a deal to begin with more than 2,000 repatriations from the Cox’s Bazar camps on 15 November.

The UN has said conditions in Rakhine state, from which some 700,000 Rohingya fled in a mass exodus starting last year, “are not yet conducive for returns”.

And there are now serious concerns over how the list of initial returnees has been drawn up, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirming that it has not been included in the process by the Bangladesh government.

Official forms for counting Rohingya families have been given to refugees over the past few weeks. Refugees told The Independent that they feared the forms related to repatriation, but were ordered to fill them out anyway. No one The Independent spoke to was willing to volunteer to return to Myanmar under current conditions.

Camp authorities have been forcing Rohingya to fill out family counting forms in recent weeks. Many see it as preparations for repatriation (Adam Withnall/The Independent)

Now 42 international aid agencies have signed a joint letter urging Bangladesh and Myanmar to reconsider the repatriation plan.

It says the involuntary return of refugees would be a “violation of the fundamental principle of non-refoulement” – the internationally agreed principle that refugees cannot be returned to countries where they justifiably fear persecution.

“They are terrified about what will happen to them if they are returned to Myanmar now, and distressed by the lack of information they have received,” the letter reads.

Bangladesh has not released the list of names of the first 2,300 returnees, making it impossible to verify whether they are indeed being sent back on a voluntary basis.

The lack of official information has led to the widespread fear among many in the sprawling Cox’s Bazar camps that they could be “on the list”.

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One 60-year-old man named Dil Mohammad tried to kill himself this week after the false rumour spread that he was being sent back, his wife told The Telegraph.

And multiple refugees told The Independent last month that if they were included on any list for repatriation to Myanmar, they would do all they could do avoid going.

Nurul Amin, a 37-year-old father of seven, said: “I saw the violence myself in Myanmar, I have seen people with their throats slit, and my house was partially destroyed by a grenade launcher [fired by the Myanmar army].

“We are thankful to this country’s people, the Bangladeshi people, to give us the shelter, we are grateful to them.

“But I am worried that they [the camp authorities] have taken all this information, that it might be a preparation for deportation.

“We are fearful of that if we are forced to go back there, then the violence and oppression will happen against us again.”

“We won’t go there,” said Muhammad Ali, 30. “We won’t go back. We will refuse to go.

“If they forcefully deport us, we will be in the same situation that was there before. The violence, the killing, and the persecution [will start] again.”

Sayeeda Kathoum, a 32-year-old mother, said “it makes [her] so happy” to see her daughters learning in the camp’s schools, and that back in Myanmar, Burmese teachers had refused to provide lessons to her children.

“We are worried, because many people are talking about deportations now, whether it is rumour or not. We are worried because we have seen the violence – that the men are killed, the women are abused and raped. We don’t want this to happen all over again,” she said.

The announcement of the start of repatriations appears to have coincided late this week with dozens of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Bangladesh boarding boats to try to reach Malaysia.

One boat was prevented from setting sail from the southern coast of Bangladesh on Wednesday, the coast guard said, while 33 Rohingya and six Bangladeshis were detained aboard a fishing boat bound for Malaysia, an official told Reuters.

Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Show all 30 1 /30 Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women and children wait in line for a food distribution of super cereal at Action Against Hunger Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees gather near the fence in the "no man's land" zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh border AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women cry as they shout slogans during a protest rally to commemorate the first anniversary of Myanmar army's crackdown AP Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures A Rohingya Muslim child holding an umbrella while under the rain AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees cry as they pray during a gathering to commemorate the first anniversary of Myanmar army's crackdown which lead to a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh AP Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Police stand near the checkpoint at the Shwe Zar village in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures A group of Rohingya refugee children stand at a makeshift camp EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee Juhara, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, poses for a portrait at the Kutapalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh. Juhara passes her days carting water with difficulty to thirsty bricklayers working in a bustling corner of Cox's Bazar. She has just one hand - the other was cleaved off in a raid on her village after the August 25 clampdown started last year. Her husband and parents were killed. The 40-year-old said she ran for her life but was hunted down and savagely attacked AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees walk on a road along a makeshift camp in Kutubpalang EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees are seen outside of their makeshift tent in the Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Thousands of Rohingya refugees staged protests for "justice" on August 25 on the first anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown that forced them to flee to camps in Bangladesh AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures A Rohingya refugee child looks through a window at a makeshift camp in Teknuf EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee women hold placards as they take part in a protest at the Kutupalong refugee camp Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures A young Rohingya boy waits in line for a food Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees shout slogans during a protest march AFP/Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee girl with other children at a makeshift camp in Teknuf in Cox's Bazar EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women protest on the first anniversary of the Rohingya crisis Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women and children receive super cereal at Action Against Hunger Getty Images Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya girls share a laugh in Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp housing the Rohingya Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees gather near the fence in the "no man's land" zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh border AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees attend a ceremony organised to remember the first anniversary of a military crackdown that prompted a massive exodus of people from Myanmar to Bangladesh AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rashida Begum, a Rohingya refugee woman walks on the Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures A Rohingya refugee bursts into tears as she shouts slogans during a protest march AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugee baby Nur Sadek two years old undergoing treatment at a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital in Teknuf in Cox's Bazar EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees protest Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees perform prayers AFP/Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rashida Begum, a Rohingya refugee woman bathes her son in the Kutupalong camp Reuters Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees protest Getty Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya refugees walk on a muddy road EPA Rohingya crisis one year on – Myanmar camps in pictures Rohingya women and children wait in line for a food distribution of super cereal at Action Against Hunger Getty

A spokesperson for the UN refugee agency in Myanmar said the organisation had heard “similar reports” of boats leaving the country but could not confirm their location.

The spike in activity has raised fears of a repeat of the deadly situation in 2015, when a sudden government crackdown on Rohingya using boats to flee to Malaysia and Thailand left thousands abandoned at sea.

For years, people smugglers on both sides of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border have profited from the persecution of the Rohingya minority, most commonly in the dry months between November and March when the sea is calm.

But Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a monitoring group which has a network of sources across Rohingya communities, suggested the repatriation deal may have forced refugees into the hands of smugglers in greater numbers.

“The Rohingya are trapped,” she said. “They have nowhere to go. No one wants them, and now they face on top of that the threat of repatriation.”

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Myanmar’s government denies allegations of crimes against humanity towards the Rohingya during its crackdown on militant activity in Rakhine in August 2017.

It says it wants the Rohingya to return, but only to internment camps like the one in central Rakhine that has housed some 120,000 Rohingya in cramped conditions, and with no freedom of movement or path to citizenship, for many years.

Yanghee Lee, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, warned in a statement this week against “rushed” attempts to return the Rohingya, saying they still face “a high risk of persecution”.

Ms Lee said she had not seen any evidence of the government of Myanmar creating an environment where the Rohingya can return to their place of origin and live in safety with their rights guaranteed.