Bangladesh moves ahead with Rohingya refugee relocation
December 4, 2020
Officials say none of them are being moved against their will, and that it would ease overcrowding in camps that are home to more than 1 million Rohingya who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/R. Asad
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Authorities in Bangladesh on Friday started sending a first group of more than 1,500 Rohingya refugees to an isolated island despite calls by human rights groups for a halt to the process.
"The government is not taking anyone to Bhashan Char forcibly. We maintain this position," Foreign Minister Abdul Momen told reporters late on Thursday.
Naval officials said seven boats would be used to transport the Rohingya, with two more carrying supplies.
More than 300 refugees were brought to the island earlier this year after several months at sea in an attempt to flee Bangladesh.
A Rohingya boy carries goods as he sells to the refugees at Kutupalong refugee campImage: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/R. Asad
Was the relocation forced?
Refugees and humanitarian workers say some of the Rohingya had been coerced into going to Bhashan Char, a flood-prone island that emerged from the sea 20 years ago.
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Refugees International said the move was "nothing short of a dangerous mass detention of the Rohingya people in violation of international human rights obligations".
Aid workers said refugees had come under pressure from government officials who used threats and offers of cash and other enticements to persuade them to go to the island.
The United Nations said it had "limited information" about the relocations and was not involved in preparations.
Bangladesh has invested $272 million (€248 million) to make the Bhasan Char island liveable for the Rohingya. But the refugees, currently camped in Cox's Bazar district, are reluctant to move to the cyclone-prone island.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Far from the mainland
Bhasan Char, which means "floating island" in Bengali language, emerged less than 20 years ago in the Bay of Bengal. The island is located 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away from mainland Bangladesh. The government of the Muslim-majority country plans to relocate some 100,000 Rohingya refugees to this island from overcrowded Cox's Bazar refugee camps.
Image: DW/A. Islam
No easy transportation
There is no proper transport for the common people to go to the island. Some people told DW that the roughness of the sea makes it difficult to reach the island on boats during the monsoon season.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Protected by embankment?
The government has erected a 13-kilometer-long and 3-meter-high embankment to protect the island from high tides and floods. Still, the outer part of the embankment goes 3 to 4 feet underwater twice a month during high tides, according to the island's shopkeepers.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Identical buildings
The government has built 1,440 single-storey buildings, with 16 rooms in each, to house the Rohingya refugees. At least four members of a family have to live in a small room. 120 four-storey shelter houses are also available, to be used during cyclones.
Image: DW/N. Conrad
Solar power for energy
All buildings at Bhasan Char are equipped with solar panels to fulfil their energy demands. A big solar field and two diesel generators for electricity have also been installed. The island has a rainwater harvesting system as well as tube wells to provide drinking water.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Protection from erosion
The silt island is called a "floating island" due to its unstable nature. Satellite images detected the island in 2002. Bangladeshi authorities have built a structure with pylons, gravel and sandbags to stop the erosion of the island.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Is the island uninhabitable?
While some experts say the island is still very fragile and uninhabitable, climate change specialist Ainun Nishat is of the opinion that people can live here if the embankment is heightened to 6.5 to 7 meters. However, he doesn't think that farming is possible on the island.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Rohingya fear cyclone, drowning
The refugees fear they could die as a result of a cyclone if they are forcibly moved to the island. Many of their children could drown in the sea, they say.
Image: DW/A. Islam
Will Rohingya move there?
While the island is almost ready to host Rohingya refugees, the government has yet to make a decision on transferring them to it. Several sources say the relocation could take place in November. The Bangladeshi government has hinted it might have to force the refugees to go there if no one chooses to leave the Cox's Bazar's refugee settlements.
Image: DW/A. Islam
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Reuters quoted two refugees as saying their names appeared on lists compiled by government-appointed local leaders without their consent.
"They have taken us here forcefully," a 31-year-old man told Reuters tearfully by phone as he boarded a bus from the camps near Cox's Bazar.
"Three days ago, when I heard that my family is on the list, I ran away from the block, but yesterday I was caught and taken here," he said.
An 18-year-old woman said her husband had put their names on the list thinking it was for food rations. He fled when they were told to go to Bhasan Char, she said, adding that she is also hiding in the camp.
Three years on, Rohingya refugees yet to return to Myanmar
UN investigators say as many as 10,000 people were killed and more than 730,000 Rohingya fled the massacre for Bangladesh, calling it "textbook ethnic cleansing."
Myanmar denies genocide and says its forces were targeting Rohingya militants who attacked police posts.
