A visiting delegation of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Wednesday endorsed the Bhasan Char for Rohingyas living.
Raouf Mazou, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, and Gillian Triggs, the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, visited the river island and also the Cox’s Bazar camps on Tuesday and saw the conditions of both places first-hand and talked with the Rohingyas.
After their meeting with Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday, they endorsed Bhasan Char as a much better place to live than the Cox’s Bazar camps.
“The government has made an important investment in Bhasan Char and if we compare the living conditions in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char….then the Bhasan Char is much better,” said Raouf Mazou, replying to a question after the meeting.
“The housing that has been developed by the government is much better. For us we are here to support the government with the rest of the international community and make sure that those who are in Bhasan Char can live in dignity,” he said.
Gillian Triggs said their main message was to say how grateful the UN has been for the generous hospitality of the people of Bangladesh for many years.
“This is the biggest refugee camp in the world,” she said, referring to the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps.
“We fully support the government and the honorable Prime Minister’s (Sheikh Hasina) policy that Rohingya people want to go home and they should go home,” she said, adding that, “We spoke to them in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char. And they want to go home.”
“Myanmar government has not accepted responsibility. So we have a very difficult situation. We are here for the support of the Bangladesh government.”
During their visit to Bhasan Char, the Rohingyas living there expressed their frustration and demanded economic activities.
The foreign minister said they had gone on their own, but “now they are frustrated because there is no end (to the crisis). We are trying hard for their repatriation.”
“They want to have a better future in the place where they lived for centuries,” the foreign minister said, indicating Rakhine State.
“Once there were four cabinet members from the Rohingya community in the Myanmar parliament. Now they are disenfranchised. In the last four years, they could not go back. That’s why they are frustrated. They don’t have a future,” he said, adding that they had asked the UNHCR to focus more on the Rakhine State so that Rohingyas can go back there.
He suggested taking Rohingyas leaders to Rakhine State to visit the place as a confidence building measure.
He also said that the UN system must take the opportunity of the military government in Myanmar to resolve the crisis “because they (Myanmar military) will listen to the UN”.
The foreign ministry earlier on Tuesday said that the government of Bangladesh noted with “great disappointment” that a section of international media and Civil Society Organizations have been continuously campaigning against Bhashan Char and Rohingya relocation with “distorted information misrepresenting the facts”.
“Such campaign will undermine the magnanimous humanitarian gestures and the sincere efforts of Bangladesh. Excessive focus on temporary arrangement and undue criticism will only shift the focus from the permanent solution, which lies in repatriation and reintegration of Rohingyas in Myanmar. It must be remembered that the Rohingyas are Myanmar nationals,” the foreign ministry had said.
“Any arrangement for them in Bangladesh; be it in Cox’s Bazar or in Bhashan Char; is purely on a temporary basis until they return to their country.
“The Rohingyas also want to return to their homeland and all including the UNHCR need to work constructively to that end.”
During the UNHCR representatives’ tour to Bhashan Char, a large number of Rohingya gathered together and launched a demonstration.
At one point, the crowd got agitated and in the process, some of the Rohingyas reportedly got minor injuries. Once the delegation left the island, the situation normalized, the foreign ministry had said.
The crowd had free and frank interactions with the AHCs and vented out their frustration and concerns over uncertainty vis-a-vis repatriation.
In absence of any progress in repatriation, they expressed desperation to get out of the present situation and requested to consider relocation to a third country, the foreign ministry had said.
The Rohingyas demanded the UN's presence in Bhashan Char to ensure facilities such as education, livelihood activities, skill development etc.
They also confirmed to the AHCs that their relocation to Bhashan char was completely on a voluntary basis.
It may be mentioned that in recent times there have been a number of important visits to Bhashan Char including the visits of the OIC Assistant Secretary General, the 18-member UN team and most recently a group of Ambassadors.
During all these visits, the Rohingyas spontaneously and happily interacted with the visiting guests both in informal and formal settings.
“The UN is expected to assume their responsibility and operate within their mandate taking into account the ground reality and concerns of the host community. The government of Bangladesh, on its part, is ready to address any realistic needs and concerns of the Rohingyas,” said the foreign ministry.