Rohingya refugees ‘warehoused’ on Bhasan Char Island

A report by the humanitarian organisation Fortify Rights denounces prisonlike living conditions on the island, where the Bangladeshi government relocated tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. Created to relieve pressure on the Cox's Bazar camps after the 2017 exodus, the island has become a de facto penal colony, where people are denied freedom of movement and employment opportunities.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – Refugee rights defenders have targeted Bhasan Char Island home to tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Bangladeshi authorities had selected the location to ease demographic pressure on the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, which has for years housed people in inhumane conditions.

A report released yesterday by the humanitarian organisation Fortify Rights, noticeably titled Like Prisoners: The Mass Arbitrary Detention and 'Warehousing' of Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar on Bhasan Char in Bangladesh, draws attention to the limitations of such a “solution”.

In fact, the transfer to the island not only severely limited the fundamental freedoms and basic rights of those sent there, but also deprives them of any real prospect of development or return to their country of origin, however impractical this may be given its dictatorial regime and ongoing civil war.

The wave of persecution unleashed against the Rohingya since August 2017, which led to accusations of genocide against Myanmar’s military, forced roughly 800,000 people to flee across the border, eventually increasing to approximately one million sheltering in Bangladeshi camps, some of which were set up to accommodate previous waves of migrants.

This situation has posed serious logistical, economic, and social challenges for the Bangladeshi government.

At a time of declining international assistance and the impossibility of carrying out repatriations, Dhaka opted instead for at least partial relocation of the refugees, choosing Bhasan Char, not far from the coast in the Bay of Bengal, as a suitable area due to its location and accessibility.

Instead, the island and its refugee camp are isolated, equipped with basic services but lacking employment opportunities and freedom of movement for some 35,000 people hosted there and for the many who may join them in the future.

The report, based on around a hundred interviews conducted over five years, documents how Rohingya refugees confined on the island are subjected to severe restrictions on their personal freedom. This condition essentially amounts to a form of arbitrary detention, violating both the Bangladeshi constitution and international law.

For this reason, “The Bangladesh authorities should immediately close the camp on Bhasan Char and end the mass arbitrary detention of Rohingya refugees on the island as well as on the mainland, and ensure freedom of movement,” said John Quinley, Director at Fortify Rights. 

“Bhasan Char,” he added, “should never have been considered an appropriate place for refugees. Being a refugee is not a crime, yet Rohingya from Myanmar have been treated as if it were. The island, in practice, functions more like a penal colony – that is neither lawful nor humane.”

• bangladesh
• myanmar
• rohingya
• refugees
• bhasan char
• cox’s bazar
• civil war
• persecution
• discrimination