Bangladesh must abandon all plans to relocate Rohingya refugees, says Amnesty

Amnesty International says Bangladesh must drop all plans to relocate 100,000 Rohingya refugees to an ‘uninhabitable’ island.

The international human rights agency made the statement on Tuesday, soon after Bangladesh announced a Tk 23.12 billion plan to relocate a portion of the Myanmar refugees to the island of Bhashan Char in Noakhali’s Hatia.

“It would be a terrible mistake to relocate the Rohingya refugees to an uninhabitable island that is far from other refugee settlements and vulnerable to flooding,” said Amnesty International South Asia Director Biraj Patnaik.

“Having opened its doors to more than 600,000 Rohingya over the past three months, the Bangladesh government now risks undermining the protection of the Rohingya and squandering the international goodwill it has earned. In its desperation to see the Rohingya leave the camps and ultimately return to Myanmar, it is putting their safety and well-being at risk.”

The Bangladesh government has long planned to relocate the nearly 400,000 refugees who came from Myanmar in the past few decades to deal with the problems that arise in the refugee camps.

Bhashan Char, also known as Thengar Char, is 10,000 acres at high tide and 15,000 acres at low tide. No-one lives on the island, which is mostly used for cattle grazing.

In 2013, the area was declared a forest reserve. Motor boats are the only mode of travel to the river islands. It takes between three to three-and-a-half hours to travel to Hatia.

Earlier this year, Reuters published a report calling the island dangerous for habitation, saying it was prone to bandit attacks, floods and cyclones. A report from the Bangladesh Forests Division last February also called it unsuitable for habitation.

A few months later a report by the Noakhali district administration declared Vasan Chor to be similar to other river islands in the area. There will be no problems building settlements if the relevant infrastructure is in place, the report said.

In late August, a Myanmar military crackdown forced over 600,000 new Rohingya refugees to cross the border, spurring the government to speed up its residence construction initiative.

Last week the Bangladesh government signed a deal with Myanmar to return nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees following the October 2016 and August 2017 military crackdowns.

A recent Amnesty International report on the situation of Rohingyas in Myanmar says they have been trapped in a vicious system of state-sponsored, institutionalised discrimination that amounts to apartheid.

“Bangladesh should postpone any repatriation agreement until conditions are in place for refugees to return voluntarily and in safety and dignity,” said Biraj Patnaik.