Bangladesh Begins Moving Second Batch of Rohingya Refugees to Remote Island — Radio Free Asia

Bangladesh started transferring a second batch of practically 1,800 Rohingya refugees to an island within the Bay of Bengal on Monday, undaunted by considerations raised by worldwide humanitarian organizations in regards to the distant isle’s habitability.

The Rohingya boarded buses as they left camps in southeastern Bangladesh for the port metropolis of Chittagong, en path to Bhashan Char Island, the place some 1,600 of their fellow refugees have been relocated early in December.

“1,772 Rohingya have opted to go to Bhashan Char in the second batch,” Khurshed Alam Khan, the deputy commissioner of Noakhali district, which oversees Bhashan Char, instructed BenarNews.

“They will stay in Chittagong on Monday and start for Bhashan Char the next day,” Khan stated, including that the refugees have been anticipated to succeed in the island round midday Tuesday (native time).

The refugees have been transported away in some 30 buses amid tight safety, in accordance with a BenarNews correspondent.

On Monday, the Dhaka workplace of the United Nations refugee company (UNHCR) reiterated that its officers weren’t concerned within the relocation course of. It additionally stated {that a} U.N. request to undertake a radical evaluation of Bhashan Char “has been under consideration by the Bangladesh government for some time.”

“The United Nations seeks constructive consultations and dialogue with the Government aimed at better understanding the Bhashan Char project and considering together the most critical policy, process and operational issues,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees stated in a press release.

“If relocated to Bhashan Char, refugees should have access to basic rights and services there, including effective freedom of movement to and from the mainland and access to education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities,” UNHCR added.

Earlier in December, nonetheless, Bangladeshi Minister of Foreign Affairs A.Okay. Abdul Momen stated the U.N. had not formally written to the federal government about sending a workforce to Bhashan Char.

Humanitarian organizations had questioned whether or not the island may face up to cyclones and floods. Some even alleged that the refugees have been made to go there towards their will — a cost that the Bangladesh authorities vigorously denied.

On Dec. 23, Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democratic member of a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee liable for human rights, stated Bangladesh ought to cease relocating the Rohingya to Bhashan Char.

“The Government of Bangladesh has done more than any other country to provide safety, aid, and shelter to nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees,” Cardin stated in a press release.

“However, I am gravely concerned by their recent efforts to relocate Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char, a remote silt island in the Bay of Bengal. I urge Bangladesh to reconsider its plans to relocate any more refugees until independent technical and protection assessments are carried out by the United Nations and voluntariness can be assured.”

Also final week, in a letter to Momen, a coalition of 38 North American Muslim organizations urged the federal government of Islamic-majority Bangladesh to cease the mass relocation.

“These refugees have already suffered through crimes of genocide and unspeakable violence fueled by discrimination and racism in Myanmar,” the teams stated in a press release.

“Immediately stop relocation plans and return those on the island to their families and community in mainland Bangladesh. …The human rights and dignity of Rohingya refugees must be respected and upheld.”

On Dec. 10, the United States, too, known as on Dhaka to simply accept the U.N.’s supply to conduct a radical and unbiased evaluation of Bhashan Char so as to decide that dwelling there’s protected, possible and fascinating.

‘Have been doing well here’

Most of the 1 million Rohingya who fled Myanmar stay in 34 refugee camps in and round Cox’s Bazar, together with greater than 740,000 who escaped a brutal crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017.

In late 2017, Bangladesh and Myanmar officers agreed to start repatriating Rohingya in early 2018, however there was no motion since then.

Bangladesh’s plan is to maneuver a complete of 100,000 refugees to Bhashan Char in phases. The authorities says that is wanted to ease crowding within the camps positioned by the Myanmar border in Cox’s Bazar district.

The authorities spent about U.S. $280 million to assemble housing, a big embankment, and different infrastructure on Bhashan Char, officers had stated.

Mohammad Ismail Hossain, one of many Rohingya from the primary batch of 1,642 who moved to Bhashan Char in early December, stated that the circumstances on the island have been superior to the circumstances within the camps.

“All of us have been doing well here. The atmosphere here is much better than that of the camps,” he instructed BenarNews by cellphone on Monday.

“One of my sisters lives in Cox’s Bazar. She has been calling repeatedly, saying she wants to come to Bhashan Char.”

BenarNews additionally spoke to a couple of the refugees set to depart on Monday.

“My sister and I have decided to go and we are going willingly. Many of the families are shifting to Bhashan Char. We are going there for a better life,” refugee Razia Begum instructed BenarNews earlier than she boarded one of many buses to Chittagong.

Another refugee, Mohammad Hossain, was set to depart for the island with seven members of the family.

“We have heard that the security and other arrangements there [on Bhashan Char] are better. So, we are all moving to Bhashan Char,” he instructed BenarNews.

Reported by Abdur Rahman and Jesmin Papri for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated on-line information service.