Despite criticism from rights activists, a UN team has completed its first visit to a remote island in Bangladesh, where it has relocated nearly 14,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees since last year December. On March 17, UN experts traveled by boat from Chottogram to Bhasan Char, also known as Rohingya Island, for a three-day tour.

“The UN team in Bangladesh consisted of 18 experts from various UN agencies working on the Rohingya refugee response. The visit was facilitated and accompanied by Bangladeshi government officials, according to Louise Donovan, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cox's Bazar.

Bhasan Char, located 60 kilometers from the mainland in the Bay of Bengal, was designed by Bangladesh in 2006 with Himalayan silt at a cost of more than $360 million to relieve overcrowding in Cox's Bazar camps. The UNHCR expressed concern about Bhasan Char's susceptibility to extreme weather and flooding, triggering a UN proposal for a "technical assessment" of the island in December 2019.

Wednesday's visit was a watershed moment in the proposal. It came after the UN refugee agency made several attempts to visit the site. The pending approval from the government to conduct the assessment, amid concerns that whether the relocation is safe or not.

Several International Human Rights organizations urged Bangladesh not to move the Rohingya to the island because it is situated in a cyclone-prone location.

“The UN team assessed the needs of Rohingya refugees living on Bhasan Char during their visit, including through meetings with Rohingya men, women, boys, and girls. “The UN team also met with some of the island's local authorities and security forces, as well as some of the NGOs and traders,” Donovan said. Dhaka announced the construction of 120 cyclone shelters, which are 4 feet above the ground and can be used as hospitals, schools, and community centers all year round.

“The UN also paid a visit to Bhasan Char's infrastructure and facilities. Accommodations, health services, multi-purpose buildings, police and fire stations, transportation networks, electricity, and telecommunications systems, and the flood embankment were all included, according to Donovan. The UN is yet to release its findings from the trip, but it thanked Bangladesh for "arranging the visit" and expressed interest in "continuing dialogue."

The UN team assessed the island from "every possible dimension," according to a representative from Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission. “The UN team spoke with the Rohingya, went through the supply chain, and met with various NGO representatives who are currently providing humanitarian assistance on the island,” said the official, who was asked to remain anonymous as he was not allowed to speak to the media.

UN experts met Dr. Mohamad Arfin Rahman, a health sector official from the Bangladeshi NGO Gonoshasthaya Kendra, twice to get a "full view" of the humanitarian work on the island. The UN team was interested in learning about our tasks and work process. They're attempting to obtain a comprehensive image of humanitarian operations from all angles, Rahman informed Arab News.

On the island, 34 non-profit organizations are currently providing humanitarian assistance. Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen has urged the UN to begin operations on Bhasan Char, saying that managing 100,000 refugees on the island will be a "massive challenge."

“I hope the UN will start operations on Bhasan Char soon,” said Saiful Islam Chowdhury, CEO of Pulse Bangladesh, a Bhasan Char-focused NGO. Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to provide long-term humanitarian assistance.”

“We agree that the local NGOs are only offering basic primary healthcare. Primary and specialized health care is not accessible. Given the island's three-hour boat ride from the mainland, we don't know how patients who need emergency medical treatment are transported to the hospital,” Bernard Wiseman, MSF's head of mission in Bangladesh, informed Arab News.

“We need to make sure that every review by us is done in compliance with our values of independence, medical needs first, etc, Bernard explained.

The Rohingyas are an ethnic and religious minority group who fled the persecution in Myanmar in 2017 as a result of a military crackdown. Even though their families have lived in Myanmar for decades, Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be "Bengalis" from Bangladesh. For decades, almost all of them have been denied citizenship, as well as freedom of movement and other fundamental rights.