Rights Groups Claim Rohingya Coerced to Relocate to Remote Island

(Photo : Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
THAINKHALI, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 25: A Rohingya boy stands inside a bamboo structure as parts of Thainkhali camp are relocated September 25, 2017 in Thainkhali camp, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Over 429,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh since late August during the outbreak of violence in Rakhine state as Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi downplayed the crisis during a speech in Myanmar this week faces and defended the security forces while criticism on her handling of the Rohingya crisis grows. Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, spoke at the United Nations General Assembly last week, focusing on the humanitarian challenges of hosting the minority Muslim group who currently lack food, medical services, and toilets, while new satellite images from Myanmar's Rakhine state continue to show smoke rising from Rohingya villages.

According to a report, an estimated 1,600 refugees were being transported on Friday towards Bhasan Cha, one of the islands in the Bay of Bengal, which is a flood-prone island.

Based on the report, Bangladesh says that all of those who are being moved have given consent.

However, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh shared with the BBC that they do not want to be relocated to the island that is recently happening.

Moreover, Rights groups have raised concerns that several individuals traveling to the island on Friday were being relocated against their own will.

Based on the Human Rights Watch, they had interviewed 12 families whose names can be found on the transport lists but had not volunteered to go.

The United Nations stated that they had been given limited information regarding the mentioned relocation, and they were not involved in the said move.

Abdul Momen, the foreign minister of Bangladesh, shared that the government was not transferring anyone going to Bhasan Char forcibly, and they maintain their position on the issue.

Following the military crackdown about three years ago, the ethnic group Rohingya fled Myanmar. United Nations investigators mentioned that 10,000 people were killed, and not less than 730,000 individuals were forcibly displaced.

After that, hundreds of thousands of them have sought refuge in Cox's Bazar and sprawled a refugee camp inside Bangladesh.

According to the BBC, The 55-year-old, Rashida Khatun shared to them in October that her children were among the initial 300 refugees sent to Bhasan Char against their will early of this year after spending many months at sea attempting to flee Bangladesh.

During the visit of reporters from the BBC to the island in October, reporters and the crew were denied access to the refugees already living there.

According to Reuters, a 31-year-old man confessed to them on Thursday by phone as he boarded a bus from Cox's Bazar that the government has taken them there using force.

The man also stated that three days ago, when he heard that his family was on the list, he ran away from the block, but he was caught a day before and taken there.

The Deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, Mohammad Shamsud Douza stated that the relocation was voluntary.

Douza also mentioned that they are going there happily, no one is forced, and the government has taken all measures to deal with disasters, which includes their comfortable living and livelihood., The Guardian reported.

The authorities of Bangladesh have been building on the island for three years, which cost them $350m (£270m).

Their project aims to relocate more than 10,000 refugees to ease tensions within the camps inside the territory of Bangladesh.

Amnesty International released a damning report earlier this year regarding the conditions faced by the 306 Rohingya that are already inhabitants of the island.

The said report also includes allegations of cramped and unhygienic living conditions, healthcare facilities, and limited food.