UN agrees to support refugees living on remote B’deshi island
THE nited Nations has signed an agreement with Bangladesh to provide humanitarian support to thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have been relocated to an island in the Bay of Bengal, away from crowded mainland camps, officials said on Saturday.
The agreement will allow close cooperation between the government and the N to provide services for refugees on Bhasan Char island, the nited Nations High Commission for Refugees ( NHCR) said in a statement after the agreement was inked in Dhaka.
“The N response will build upon and complement the humanitarian assistance so far provided by Bangladeshi NGOs on the island,” the statement said.
Humanitarian agencies will be better able to deliver services to refugees in terms of protection, education, skills training, livelihood and health among others, said Enamur Rahman, the Bangladeshi junior minister for disaster management and relief.
The N’s engagement began nearly a year after Bangladesh started relocating 100,000 Rohingya Muslims to the island despite aid agencies’ concerns about the safety of the move. The agencies said the area is often hit by violent storms and ooding during monsoon season.
Nearly 19,000 refugees have been relocated away from the sprawling camps in the south-eastern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar since December.
Officials say 81,000 more people are to be relocated by early next year to the 53-square-kilometre island, where Dhaka has invested almost 350 million dollars in infrastructure.
The island, which was formed by silt two decades ago, is located in the Bay of Bengal, 35 kilometres off the mainland.
Bangladesh hosts more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who ed persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Nearly 50,000 crossed the border in August 201 , after Myanmar launched a military offensive against the minority group.