A Sly Safety Myth
Why the Relocation of Rohingya Refugees to an Off-Shore Settlement in the Bay of Bengal is Another Humanitarian Disaster in the Making
Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
In early 2017, the Bangladesh government began the development of one of the largest “humanitarian” projects in South Asia, known as the “Bhashan Chor”.
A forty square kilometres silt island, complete with wide roads, concrete housing, medical clinics, cyclone shelters, open spaces and guaranteed food supply, the site offered a promising bid to the Rohingya refugees living in makeshift shelters for the past five years. Indeed, with the prospects of being relocated to an island catered solely for their habitation, one could imagine the Rohingyas were elated to move there.
Yet with the relocation of a 100,000 Rohinygas to the island having started in early 2021, it is clear that the realities of the “Bhashan Chor” are very different to what had been promised. With its inaccessible and environmentally vulnerable location, acute lack of proper medical and educational resources; in addition to the stringent movement restrictions–– for the already displaced and persecuted Rohingya –– “Bhashan Chor” is another humanitarian disaster in the making.
Located in the highly cyclone-prone zone of Hatiya, 60 km from the Bangladesh mainland in the Bay of Bengal, “Bhashan Chor” –– meaning “floating sediment” in Bengali –– was a non-existent landform a mere 20 years ago. While it has been lauded by multiple local planning commissions in Bangladesh as an architectural feat to house Rohingya refugees, the reality of the island is far from safe.
Instead of being the practical solution to the overcrowding in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, “Bhasan Chor” has created a trap for the Rohingya leading to the pernicious practice of refugee warehousing. By limiting the refugees’ movement and access to long-term solutions, the tidal island has become a warehouse for human beings, putting their lives on hold indefinitely and creating a system of dependency on external support.
Bangladeshi news outlets such as The Business Standard have reported “Bhasan Chor” to be “more livable and safer for the forcibly displaced Rohingya compared to Cox's Bazar”. The country’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen even referred to the island as “a beautiful resort”. By contrast, a 2021 Human Rights Watch report found that the local government described the conditions on “Bhasan Chor” intentionally to mislead both the Rohingya refugee community and international donors of the development project.
Despite the Bangladesh government assuring that the refugee relocation process has been and is fully transparent and voluntary, some refugees described ‘being forced’ to relocate to “Bhashan Chor”. Others reported food shortages, inadequate health services, no access to education, onerous restrictions on movement, and a lack of opportunities to make one’s livelihood. Such inhospitality and confinement have led many refugees to attempt to flee the island, in some cases at the cost of their lives. This exodus testifies more than anything to the deplorable conditions on the island.
Separated from their families in the camps and vulnerable to frequent flooding and cyclones –– only exacerbated by the climate crisis –– many refugees now fight to return to Cox’s Bazar, where they at least had the help of NGOs and the UNHRC. Now, in a truth heartbreaking to fathom: the refugees, an already victimised people, find their precarious living in the refugee camps a better alternative to living in the modern isolated settlement of the “Bhashan Chor”. In contrast to what the island settlement is advertised as, the real prospects of the place are harrowing.
While a recent agreement has been signed by the UN and Bangladesh Government to open the doors to humanitarian assistance on the island and enable freedom of movement within it, Bangladesh is still not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and has not granted the Rohingya the right to work, freedom of movement, education, healthcare, and family unity. Nonetheless, even with the agreement in place, insisting the refugees ask permission to relocate is a denial of their freedom of movement. Guarded by Bangladesh security forces and surrounded by barbed wire and security cameras, “Bhasan Chor” is “an island jail in the middle of the sea”. It is not an appropriate settlement for refugees.
Given the current prospects for the Rohingyas to return to Myanmar, putting them on an island cut off from the rest of the world is counterproductive. Dumping a battered and traumatised people on “Bhasan Chor” to face yet another threat to their survival is no solution. Bangladesh needs to urgently terminate its relocation plans and instead look to regularise the refugee population and allow them to contribute to their host communities. In the meantime, the country should follow through on its promises for an independent assessment of the habitability and emergency preparedness of “Bhashan Chor” and allow refugees who wish to return to Cox’s Bazar, to do so immediately.