UN team on Bhasan Char to inspect facilities

An 18-member UN delegation reached Bhasan Char yesterday on a three-day visit to take a first-hand view of the housing facility for 100,000 Rohingyas.

Facilitated by the Government of Bangladesh, the United Nations' visit to Bhasan Char is taking place from March 17 to 20, said Mostafa Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, assistant communications officer at UNHCR Bangladesh.

The three-day visit would bring together experts from UN agencies engaged in the Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh, he told The Daily Star.

"The visit will look at the current situation and facilities at Bhasan Char, appraise the needs of the Rohingya refugees relocated there, as well as discuss with the authorities and others currently working at Bhasan Char," Sazzad said.

The UN delegation reached Bhasan Char around noon, said officials.

The development comes following an impasse, which lasted for more than a year, between the government and the UN regarding the global body's technical assessment of the facility.

The government has already relocated some 13,000 Rohingyas to Bhasan Char, an island in Noakhali, from Cox's Bazar in phases since December last year. Relocation of more Rohingyas is under process.

Bangladesh Navy implemented the Tk 3,100 crore housing project at Bhasan Char after some 750,000 Rohingyas had fled a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017 and took shelter in Cox's Bazar camps.

Apart from the risk of landslides in the hilly terrain, the government cited issues such as drug peddling, human trafficking, gender-based violence, conflicts between factions of the refugee communities in Cox's Bazar, and environmental degradation as major reasons for the relocation.

The UN said it wanted to send a technical team to the island to assess the housing facilities. Asked by the government, the UN submitted the terms of reference for the visit in December 2019.

The move had got stalled after that.

Project officials said separate buildings for the UN and other international aid agencies have also been constructed in Bhasan Char.

The government has urged the UN to begin its operations in Bhasan Char, but the UN as well as donor countries sought an independent technical assessment of the facility.

The government, however, maintained no such technical assessment was necessary as Bhasan Char has been equipped with a well-built facility developed by maintaining international standards and addressing all risks involved.

NGO officials said if there was any gap in communication between the UN and the government on the Bhasan Char issue, it must be solved.