Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: Bangladesh wanted to send more than 80,000 Rohingya refugees to remote islands in Bay Bay after sealing an agreement for the United Nations to provide assistance, Friday officials said.
About 19,000 Muslim refugees from Myanmar had moved from crowded camps on the mainland to Bhashan Char Island, although doubts were raised by assistance groups, officials said.
Commissioner Refugee Bangladesh Shah Rezwan Hayat told AFP that tens of thousands will go so storm the rainy season which Bengala Bengal’s dough every year.
“We aim to move around 81,000 (Rohingya) to Bhashan Char at the end of February to complete the 100,000 quota,” he told AFP.
The government has spent around $ 350 million in a protection building on the island of 53 square kilometers (20 square miles) which was formed by tidal mud saved around 20 years ago.
Above unfriendly weather, this island is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the mainland of Bangladesh and several Rohingya groups say people are forced to go there.
About 850,000 Rohingya packed into camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
Most escape from Myanmar’s military chlam in 2017 that the United Nations said it could become genocide.
Bangladesh has been praised for taking refugees as outlined across the border but has a little success finding them a permanent house.
While the Bangladesh security intelligence agency was responsible for the relocation of refugees, the government denied that there was coercion has been used.
However, several hundred Rohingya escaped from Bhashan Char only to be detained on other islands or in coastal villages.
Dozens died after a fishing boat packed with Rohingya tried to escape the island sink in August.
The United Nations has expressed doubts about relocation.
But Bangladesh and UN officials said the agreement had been agreed to give a role that was not in providing humanitarian assistance and monitoring conditions on the island.
“We can confirm that the United Nations will sign a memorandum of understanding with the government to protect Rohingya refugees at Bhashan Char on Saturday,” UNHCR spokesman, the UN refugee body, told AFP.
Hayat refugee commissioners said the United Nations would play a greater role on the island than now in land refugee camps, where they already have extensive operations.
“Residents of Bhashan Char will receive similar treatment, humanitarian response – wise, for what is now given to people in Cox Bazar camps,” he said.
He added that there would be a greater chance for Rohingya to work on the island than now in stiffly managed camps.
But Amnesty International raised new concerns over relocation and highlighted the efforts made by refugees on the island to go again.
“Some refugees have sunk into the sea and many of which are both captured, detained, or forced back to the island,” Saad Hammadi, the South Asian campaign Amnesty, told AFP.
He said Bangladesh, donor countries must “develop policies that respect the rights and ensure the participation of Rohingya refugees in decisions that affect their lives.”
Bangladesh plans to move 81,000 Rohingya to the island after UN Agreement: Officials
