Bangladesh, UN to ink deal on Rohingyas aid at Bhashan Char

As many as 18,521 Rohingyas have been relocated to Bhasan Char 4 December 2020.
Prothom Alo file photo

The United Nations will sign an agreement with Bangladesh on humanitarian aid to Rohingya refugees who have been relocated to remote Bhasan Char in Noakhali.

The agreement will be inked on next Saturday.

The secretary to disaster management and relief, Md Mohsin told Prothom Alo on Wednesday.

The government has begun relocating Rohingyas from the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char since December last year as part of its plan to relocate 100,000 Rohingyas to the remote island.

To date, the government with the involvement of local and foreign donor agencies has been financing the humanitarian aid to these relocated Rohingyas.

The UN opposed the relocation in the beginning. The UN raised questions on various issues including how much the island is risky during natural disasters, ensuring Rohingya’s access to mainland Bangladesh from the Island and whether the refugees were relocated at their will.

Amid the relocation process, the UN sent a technical team to Bhasan Char. At the time, delegations of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and western country’s missions in Dhaka visited the island, followed by a visit of two assistance commissioners for the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Following these visits, the UN technical and other delegations showed positive attitude to Bhasan Char.

UN officials held a meeting with the foreign ministry officials at the end of July this year to discuss how the UN can operate in various sectors at the island.

The meeting discussed the nature of UN’s operation in various issues including education, health, livelihood and communication of Rohingyas in Bhashan Char.

At that time, officials concerned of the ministry told Prothom Alo education activities of Rohinygas would be run on the language and text curriculum of Myanmar. So that Rohingyas can adopt to the local education system once they return to Rakhain.

As many as 18,521 Rohingyas – 8,790 men, 5,319 women and 4,409 children, have been relocated from Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char in six phases since 4 December 2020.

Ashrayan project-3 director commodore M Rashed Sattar earlier told Prothom Alo relocation of 10,000 from Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char would start after the rainy season.