Rohingya refugeesmoved to isolated floating island
Authorities in Bangladesh have begun relocating thousands of Rohingya refugees to an isolated island despite calls by human rights groups for a halt to the process, officials said yesterday.
The Unitednations has also voiced concern that refugees be allowed tomake a “free and informed decision” about whether to relocate to the island, in the Bay ofbengal.
The island’s facilities are built to accommodate 100,000people, just a fraction of the millionrohingya Muslims who have fledwaves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar and are currently living in crowded, squalid refugee camps.
Yesterday, 11 passenger buses carrying refugees leftcox’s Bazar district on theway to the island, where they are expected to arrive after an overnight stop, a government official involved with the process said on condition of anonymity because hewas not authorised to speak to the media.
He said “a fewthousand” refugeeswere in the first batch. Authorities incox’s Bazar did not say howthe refugeeswere selected for relocation.
About 700,000Rohingya fled to the camps incox’s Bazar after August 2017, when the military in
Buddhist-majoritymyanmar began a harsh crackdown on the Muslim group following an attack by insurgents. The crackdown included rapes, killings and the torching of thousands of homes, andwas termed ethnic cleansing by global rights groups and the UN.
Foreign media have not been permitted to visit the island, called Bhashan Char, or floating island. It was once regularly submerged by monsoon rains but now has flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques built at a cost of more than US$112 million ($158m) by the Bangladesh Navy.
Located 34kmfromthe mainland, the island surfaced only 20 years ago andwas never inhabited.
Contractors say its infrastructure is like amodern township, with multifamily concrete homes, schools, playgrounds and roads.
It also has solar-power facilities, awater-supply system and cyclone shelters.
International aid agencies and theunhave vehemently opposed the relocation since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could overwhelm the island and endanger thousands of lives.
Theunsaid in a statement on Thursday that it had not been involved in preparations for the relocation or the selection of refugees and has limited information about the plan.
“The Unitednations takes this opportunity to highlight its longstanding position that Rohingya refugeesmust be able to make a free and informed decision about relocating to Bhasan Char based upon relevant, accurate and updated information,” it said.
Amnesty International and Humanrightswatch yesterday urged the government to cancel the relocation plan.