The Rohingya increasingly face a terrible dilemma. Many are becoming more and more desperate and hopeless as conditions in the camp continue to deteriorate, which makes them turn to risky choices. In order to escape, some choose to make the perilous journey on human trafficking boats departing for Malaysia. Others sign up to be relocated to the remote island of Bhasan Char, despite all the question marks about their future there.
What can you tell us about the island of Bhasan Char?
The island of Bhasan Char is a sandbar in the middle of the Bay of Bengal. It didn’t exist until 2006 and has never been inhabited. After the 2017 refugee crisis, the Bangladesh authorities imagined Bhasan Char as a place to relocate some of the almost one million refugees who had arrived from Myanmar. About 14,000 refugees have been relocated there since December 2020, while the government eventually plans to relocate around 100,000 people. However, questions remain about the suitability and sustainability of the island: it is located about 60 kilometers [37 miles] from the mainland and the only available mode of transport to the mainland is a shuttle managed by the Bangladeshi military.
There are currently around 20 former MSF patients on the island, and we are still in touch with them. Their first reaction to living conditions on the island was generally positive. It’s not difficult to understand why: the buildings are concrete with metal roofs, which is certainly an improvement from the small mud and bamboo structures they have been living in for the past three years.