Bangladesh ‘uncertain’ about relocating Rohingya to remote island

The relocation of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh to a remote, flood-prone island in the country is not certain to happen, Bangladeshi officials say.

Bangladesh’s disaster management and relief minister, Enamur Rahman, said on Sunday that the plan was in doubt as United Nations (UN) agencies hadn’t supported the relocation.

“[UN agencies] still haven’t agreed to the relocation plan,” Rahman said of the relocation to the mud-silt island of Bhashan Char in the Bay of Bengal. “This has become uncertain.”

Aid agencies, including the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the World Food Programme (WFP), have repeatedly said the island is “isolated” and “flood-prone.”

On Sunday, UNHCR spokesman Louise Donovan said her agency offered “to engage constructively” with Bangladesh but said the relocation had to be “voluntary.”

“To evaluate the safety and sustainability of life on Bhashan Char, the UN has also emphasized that it will be essential to undertake independent and thorough technical assessments before relocations take place,” Donovan said.

She added that the assessments would look at the risks of natural disasters, water supplies, access to basic services, and the “ability [of the Rohingya] to move within Bhashan Char and to and from the mainland.”

Dhaka had wanted to begin moving 100,000 people to the island this month. Last month, Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Mahbub Alam, said that the Dhaka government would start relocating the Rohingya Muslims to the Island within the next few weeks in a declared bid to ease overcrowding in the refugee camps at the border district of Cox’s Bazar.

PressTV-Bangladesh to move Rohingya refugees to remote island

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar who have taken refuge in Bangladesh are to be relocated from camps to a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal.

The number of refugees in Cox’s Bazar has swelled since August 2017, when a military-led crackdown in Myanmar — which UN investigators have said was conducted with “genocidal intent” — prompted some 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, which was already hosting some 200,000 Rohingya when the 2017 exodus began.

But human rights groups have voiced concern about the plan to relocate the Rohingya to the designated island because it is remote and prone to devastation from cyclones. They have warned the island might not be able to withstand violent storms during the annual monsoon season.

In the past five decades, powerful cyclones have killed thousands of people in the Meghna River estuary, where the island is located.

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