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The leaked copy of the agreement shows that it cannot guarantee that refugees will be allowed to move freely to mainland Bangladesh.
According to a copy of the agreement, the UN agreement to start work on a remote island in Bangladesh does not guarantee that they will be allowed to move freely to the mainland.
The Bangladesh government has transferred nearly 19,000 Rohingya refugees (mainly members of the persecuted Muslim minority) from border camps to Bhasan Char Island. Despite refugee protests and opposition from human rights organizations, they likened it to an island prison and expressed some Relocation is involuntary.
Refugees called for freedom of movement between remote and flood-prone islands a few hours away from the coast and the sprawling continental camp near the port town of Cox’s Bazar. In recent months, dozens of people have tried to travel on the coast. The shaking ship escaped and died.
The UN refugee agency previously refused to provide humanitarian services to Bhasan Char before the assessment was completed, but did not respond to a request for comment on why the agreement signed in early October was not disclosed or its contents.
The agency stated in a statement on October 9 that the agreement covers “key areas such as protection, education, skills training, livelihoods, and health, which will help support refugees to lead a decent life on the island and help They continue to return to Myanmar to be better prepared.” In the future”.
Bangladeshi government officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Leaked copy of the transaction
A leaked copy of the transaction seen by Reuters stated that the United Nations will be “allowed unhindered access” to the population, and further relocation will be voluntary.
But it said that any travel between the island and the mainland will be carried out on an “on-demand” basis, and the specific details will be determined between the United Nations and Bangladesh.
It said that they can “perform daily activities within Bhasan Char.”
The agreement referred to the Rohingya as “Forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals/refugees”, reflecting the refusal of Bangladesh to grant refugee status to this group, which is not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
In a statement on Friday, the non-profit organization Fortify Rights said it had reviewed the agreement and called on the United Nations and Bangladesh to modify it to include freedom of movement to the mainland.
“UNHCR’s life-saving services are indispensable and necessary on the island, but the agency must ensure that it does not support refugee prisons through this agreement,” Ismail Wall, the organization’s regional director Said the husband.
More than 1 million Rohingya lived in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar. The vast majority of them were after military crackdowns in 2017, including mass killings and gang rapes, which the United Nations said were genocidal intent.
Myanmar denies genocide and says it is launching a legal campaign against armed combatants who attacked police posts.
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