My rabbit Anna does that to me as well. For her,she associates me with a) being picked up, when she sees me gettingnear her cage - which she absolutely hates; and b) I am the one whospoils her fun and has to catch her when she is running loose in thebackyard. When she is in the house and is loose, she will approach mewith no problems, and will climb all over me if I'm sitting on thefloor. She will also approach me outdoors when she's running loose, butas soon as she sees it's time to go back in her hutch, off she runs.And so when she's in her cage, she runs to the back most times when Iapproach it.
So now that the rabbits are indoors for the winter I'm working with herto gain back her trust. When I open her cage door, I step back from itand allow her to take her time in coming back out. I scratch her nose(which she loves) for several minutes, and will give her atreat and praise her. And when she's loose in the house I allow her togo where she wishes (but well away from wires). I don't follow heraround, but watch her from a distance.
Since the rabbits absolutely love their freedom running loose in theyard during the warm weather, and the only way to get Anna back to hercage when it's time to go in is to try and herd her into a corner, thistends to reinforce the issue of her feeling 'trapped' by me. (Raph hasto be the easiest rabbit in the world to get back to his cage...hecomes right to you when you call his name, even when loose in theyard.) But I don't want to jeopardize Anna's freedom outdoors, so Ihave to accept with this issue...however, I do try to counteract it asmuch as possible by praising her when I can; approaching her when she'soutdoors (when she allows it), but only to pet her; and by making ahabit of not always taking her out of her cage every time I go to it.
With your bunnies, is it actual human contact that they don't care for(being petted)? Or do you pick them up or remove them from their cagesoften after you've approached it? I'm wondering if it's possible theyare associating your presence at the cage to being picked up. I likeStephany's suggestions; and if your rabbits are indoors, or if youbring them indoors frequently, then designate an area where they canrun loose. You can sit in one spot with treats that they like, andwhenever they approach you, give them a bit, and scratch them behindthe ears or on the nose - but only if they like being scratched. Avoidpicking them up as much as possible, and encourage them to be the onescoming to you, rather than you to them. Hopefully this will help themto stop running away when you approach. I suspect they will eventuallycome around for you.
And I think I'll go and work with Anna now....
