Bangladesh feels trapped on the island of Bangladesh, fears are monsoons: HRW | Human Rights News

Human Rights Watch interviewed 167 refugees and said they had been taken “without full informed consent” and prevented from returning to the mainland.

Rohingya refugees flee to the island of Bangladesh for fear of enduring harsh conditions next season and are struggling with “inadequate” health and education facilities, Human Rights Watch report he said.

About 18,800 refugees have been evacuated from the Cox’s Bazar region – about 850,000 people have fled in poor and cramped conditions after fleeing Myanmar – to the low-lying silt of Bhasan Char island in Bengal Bay.

A spokesman for the prime minister’s office told AFP news agency that another 80,000 Rohingya would soon be taken to the island.

The Bangladeshi government has stressed that the relocation is voluntary and the island is safe from cyclones and its facilities are much better than Cox’s Bazar camps.

But Human Rights Watch said that after interviewing 167 refugees, they had been taken “without full and informed consent” and prevented from returning to the mainland.

According to the 58-page report, the refugees also talked about the lack of health facilities and education for children.

Others feared that the monsoon season, which began in June, could cause strong winds and flooding on the island.

Human Rights Watch has acknowledged that Dhaka has been “generous and compassionate” in sheltering the Rohingya – many of whom fled Myanmar after a brutal military crackdown in 2017 – but that their rights must be protected.

Rohingya refugees have been relocated to a controversial island that has been hit by floods [File: Rehman Asad/AFP]

“The Bangladeshi government is struggling to deal with one million Rohingya refugees, but forcing people to a remote island creates new problems,” Bill Frelick, HRW’s director of migrant and refugee rights, said in a statement.

“International donors should help the Rohingya, but also stress if Bangladesh wants to return refugees who want to return to the mainland or if experts say the conditions on the island are too dangerous or unbearable.”

AK Foreign Minister Abdul Momen dismissed the report in a report, telling AFP that “whatever resources we have, we have tried to provide the best service to these people.”

“Their nations are very developed … If they have so much sympathy, they can take them to their country,” Momen said of Human Rights Watch in New York.

“I feel like we can’t have better facilities because we’re not a rich country. We can’t afford to offer more things.”

On Friday, a boat full of dozens of Rohingya sailed off the coast of Indonesia after a month-long voyage – the last of the waves to arrive from the narrow camps of Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi police have also arrested Rohingya in an attempt to escape Bhashan Char, and last week they protested against the situation on thousands of islands during a visit by the United Nations Refugee Agency.