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A second group of Rohingya refugees is being prepared for relocation to Bhasanchar this month. Despite calls from human rights groups not to make new transfers, refugee authorities said they were preparing for a second one.
A new initiative is being taken to relocate some 1,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority community, who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape the violence, to flood-stricken Bhasanchar. Earlier this month, more than 1,600 refugees were resettled in Bhasanchar.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “First they will take them to Chittagong. Later they will move to Bhasanchar according to the tide.
Mohammad Shamsud Doja, a deputy government official in charge of the refugees, said the relocation was voluntary. “They will not be transferred against their will,” he said.
The United Nations has said it did not allow any technical or security inspections in Bhasanchar and was not involved in the relocation of refugees.
The government of Bangladesh has said that they are only relocating people who want to relocate. The relocation will relieve pressure on the population moving to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, where more than a million refugees live.
But refugees and human rights activists say some Rohingya are being forcibly repatriated to the island. Only 20 years ago, the island woke up from the bosom of the sea.
Furthermore, some initiatives to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar have failed. They say that if they return to the country, they run the risk of being victims of violence again.
Source: Al Jazeera
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