Bangladesh Ships Rohingya Refugees to Remote Island Despite Outcry The government is not taking anyone to Bhashan Char forcibly. We maintain this position, Foreign Minister Abdul Momen told reporters late on Thursday.
Rohingyas are seen at the Chittagong Boat Club from where ships will carry Rohingyas to Bhasan Char island in Chattogram, Bangladesh, December 4, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Chittagong: Bangladesh naval vessels carried some 1,600 Rohingya refugees towards a remote island in the Bay of Bengal on Friday despite complaints by refugees and humanitarian groups that some were being coerced.
Bangladesh says it is only moving refugees who are willing to go to Bhasan Char and it will ease chronic overcrowding in camps that are home to more than 1 million Rohingyas; members of a Muslim minority who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
Earlier this month, the Bangladesh government began the process of relocating thousands of Rohingya refugees to the remote Bhasan Char island, a move that has prompted significant concern from human rights groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, amongst others, have criticised Bangladesh authorities for their lack of transparency around the relocation process, particularly surrounding whether these refugees have consented to the move. Despite repeated requests, the government of Bangladesh is also yet to allow the UN an opportunity to carry out their own safety assessment of the island, leaving many to question whether such land is capable of providing the food, medical facilities and livelihood opportunities needed to support the expected 100,000 new inhabitants. If they proceed, the plans will likely threaten to place the human rights of the Rohingya people, an ethnic Muslim group forced to flee ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Myanmar, into even further peril.
Fortify Rights, a human rights organization that has been documenting the persecution of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya said in a media statement released on Wednesday 13 May that, “Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia should immediately coordinate search and rescue operations for Rohingya asylum seekers and possible survivors of trafficking from Myanmar and Bangladesh who are stranded at sea.”
Fortify Rights urged the three governments to “open their borders to asylum seekers and provide survivors with access to asylum procedures, protection from detention and forced returns, and freedom of movement.”
In 2014 Fortify Rights released two reports that documented the persecution of the Rohingya by the Burma government. The reports, Policies of Persecution: Ending Abusive State Policies Against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Myanmar: Authorities Complicit in Rohingya Trafficking, Smuggling were also used in testimony by Fortify Right’s executive director, Matthew Smith to the Un
What Next For Myanmar? What next
NEW DELHI: Myanmar dominated world headlines as elections concluded with a victory for Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), securing a transition of power from President Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which is effectively a political extension of the country’s military.
As Myanmar makes a bolder push toward a democratic future, questions relating to inclusiveness, peace and nation building stem from the fact that several of Myanmar’s diverse ethnic groups have remained absent from the democratic process. This is for two reasons: one, because many ethnic groups continue to wage a war against the State, because of which inhabitants of these war torn areas were not able to participate in the democratic process; and two, the minority Rohingya community are not allowed by the State to participate, being repeatedly denied basic citizenship rights that form fundamental human rights.
Human Rights Groups Call for Independent International Investigation of Abuses in Rakhine State karennews.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from karennews.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.