Take Action for Human Rights: Ramadan 2021

Halt the relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char

Photo Credit K M Asad/LightRocket via Getty Images

Most of the million Rohingya who have fled Myanmar began arriving three years ago. Starting in late August, more than 740,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar after their homes were burned, and at least 10,000 Rohingya men, women and children were killed in the Myanmar military’s crimes against humanity. In September 2020, two Rohingya refugees said that they heard accounts of sexual harassment at the hands of police and Navy officials on the island. The authorities vehemently refused to commission a prompt and impartial investigation into the allegations.

Two weeks prior to the relocation in December 2020, five family members, who represent 23 Rohingya refugees, told Amnesty International that they were forced to sign up to relocate to Bhashan Char (which in English translates to “floating island”). A Rohingya woman on the list for relocation told Amnesty International that she registered to go to the island because her husband is there. Two Rohingya families were put on the list for relocation after they reported partial damage of their shelters to government officials. Instead of having their shelters repaired, they were told that they must relocate to Bhashan Char.

Humanitarian staff in the healthcare sector have expressed grave concerns about the relocation. A Rohingya patient expressed “complete panic” ahead of the relocation, saying he was being forced to go to Bhashan Char. Staff of the prominent healthcare facility told Amnesty International that some of these refugees are on regular medications. Healthcare is a serious concern because there is no healthcare facility on the island except for a mobile clinic operated by the Navy that is open for only four hours a day between 8am and 12pm.

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

Prime Minister

Sheikh

Hasina

Bangladesh

{contact_data~salutation},

I am gravely concerned about the lives of the more than 10,000 Rohingya refugees who have been moved to Bhashan Char island since December 2020, before the United Nations and human rights and humanitarian organizations had been granted access to conduct independent assessments of the conditions.

Bangladesh has provided Rohingya refugees with a second chance at life as they fled the horrors of persecution. However, the confinement of the Rohingya refugees on the island is a violation of Bangladesh’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and gravely undermines their rights to liberty and to freedom of movement.

It is important that a transparent process is followed in situations where the international community has a responsibility to support Bangladesh and the Rohingya refugees.

I urge you to immediately halt the relocation of more Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char, and to return those already on the island to their families and community in Cox’s Bazar. I ask that you allow the United Nations and humanitarian and human rights organizations to carry out independent assessments on Bhashan Char’s habitability and on access to freedoms and rights. Only after it is deemed habitable should the island be opened to the public. I also ask that you outline in a publicly accessible, transparent and rights-respecting policy framework the participation of Rohingya refugees in the decisions that affect them.

Yours sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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