AFP, Dhaka
Dhaka says shifting
100,000 refugees to a muddy silt islet in the Bay of Bengal will take pressure
off overcrowded camps along its southern border
The United Nations
said on Monday it was examining how to assist Dhaka in relocating thousands of
Rohingya refugees to a remote island despite warnings it could trigger fresh
humanitarian upheaval.
Dhaka says shifting
100,000 refugees to a muddy silt islet in the Bay of Bengal will take pressure
off overcrowded camps along its southern border, where almost a million
Rohingya Muslims live in cramped tent cities.
But the move to
Bhashan Char - which is an hour away by boat from the mainland - is unpopular
with many refugees and experts have raised concerns about the island's capacity
to withstand the monsoon that tears along Bangladesh's coastline every year.
Bangladesh, which
has built shelters and flood walls on the island, says it will begin relocating
refugees there on a voluntary basis from April.
The UN resident
coordinator's office in Bangladesh said Monday it would "engage
constructively" with the government to ensure any refugees moved there
could live "in safe and sustainable living conditions."
"We are also
examining the potential operational implications of setting up a humanitarian
response on Bhashan Char, including the requirements, time frames and costs
involved in providing services," the statement said, stressing that any
relocation be on a voluntary basis.
The island only
emerged from the water in 2006 and lies in a coastal area prone to flooding,
cyclones and other extreme weather that has killed hundreds of thousands in
past decades.
A UN special rights
rapporteur in January warned rushing refugees to the island could spark a
"new crisis."
But Dhaka says the
island is ready, pointing to a newly-constructed 9ft embankment they say will
keep out tidal surges in the event of a cyclone.
Some UN officials
have visited the island but access has not been granted to the media.
Bangladesh has spent
some $280 million transforming the muddy strip but previous deadlines for
shifting the Rohingya from camp sites in Cox's Bazar have passed unmet.
The camps there host
nearly a million refugees who have fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar in
waves going back decades.
The largest exodus
was in August 2017, when the first of about 740,000 Rohingya escaped violence
in Myanmar described by UN investigators as bearing the hallmarks of genocide.
The fetid camps
quickly swelled into the largest refugee settlement on earth, with huge levels
of humanitarian aid needed to care for their inhabitants.
The UN refugee
agency said Monday nearly $1 billion was needed for the Rohingya in Bangladesh
but only a tiny fraction had been raised so far.
Khaled Khalifa, a
regional UNHCR representative, told reporters in Dhaka "every penny
short" of the $920 million needed this year would impact lives on the
ground.