Dhaka moves Rohingya to ‘flood-prone’ island
RIGHTS GROUPS SAY BANGLADESH FORCED REFUGEES TO RELOCATE
BANGLADESH transported more than 1,600 Rohingya refugees to a low-lying island last Friday (4) in the first phase of a controversial planned relocation of 100,000 people.
Almost a million Rohingya – most of who fled a military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar three years ago – live in squalid camps in southeastern Bangladesh. Any return to Myanmar appears unlikely for now.
Dhaka wants to move 100,000 of the refugees to Bhashan Char, a silt island that critics say is prone to flooding and in the path of cyclones that frequently wreak havoc in the region.
Rights groups have alleged that many of those sent in the first wave last Friday were coerced into going with threats or sweeteners.
This was borne out by some family members who spoke at camps in the Cox’s Bazar district last Thursday (3) as they said tearful goodbyes to their relatives. “They beat my son mercilessly and even smashed his teeth so that he agreed to go to the island,” said
Sufia Khatun, 60, who came to see off her son and five other relatives.
At the United Nations, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there had been “some reports from the camps that some refugees may be feeling pressured into relocating” or had changed their minds about going. “If so, they should be allowed to remain in the camps in Cox’s Bazar,” he said.
Bangladesh’s foreign minister AK Abdul Momen called the claims “a damn lie” and said the facilities on the island were “much better” than in the camps.
Bangladesh has spent some $400 million (£299.4) from its own coffers building shelters and a nine-foot flood embankment around the facilities.
The government said that the facilities are “strongly built with concrete foundation which can withstand natural disasters such as cyclones and tidal waves.”
The island “has all modern amenities, year-round fresh water, (a) beautiful lake and proper infrastructure and enhanced facilities,” the foreign ministry said last Friday. “These include uninterrupted supply of electricity and water, agricultural plots, cyclone shelters, two hospitals, four community clinics, mosques, warehouses, telecommunication services, police station, recreation and learning centres, playgrounds, among others,” it said.
Bangladeshi authorities say the relocation will ease congestion in the vast network of camps where deadly landslides – as well as violence by drug gangs and extremists – are common.
But it is unclear whether the refugees will be able to leave the island if they wish to do so.
The United Nations office in Bangladesh said it had been prevented from independently assessing the “safety, feasibility and sustainability” of the island as a place to live.
The UN spokesman in New echoed that claim, saying: “We not been involved.”
On the mainland last Thursday, before the departure, two Rohingya said their names had appeared on lists
York have compiled by government-appointed local leaders without their consent.
“They have taken us here forcefully,” a 31-year-old man said tearfully by phone as he boarded a bus that he said was taking him from the camps near Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong.
“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 was also hiding in the camp.
Mohammad Jubaer, 28, who was on one of the ships with three family members on the three-hour sea journey from Chittagong to the island last Friday, said he was happy to go.
“I hope that there will be enough work for me in the island. I really wish they would also bring my brother and his family to the island,” he said by phone.