UN 'concerned' Over Detention Of Rohingya Who Fled Bangladesh Island

Dhaka, June 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Jun, 2021 ) :The United Nations refugee agency said it was concerned by reports that Bangladeshi police had arrested Rohingya refugees fleeing a controversial island camp and that others were hurt in a protest about conditions there.

Bangladesh has shifted 18,000 refugees out of a planned 100,000 to the low-lying silt island of Bhashan Char from squalid, cramped settlements on the mainland where 850,000 of them live.

With some of the Rohingya saying they were coerced into being relocated and that conditions on the island are poor, in recent weeks 59 of them were arrested after escaping.

The UNHCR said in a statement on Wednesday after a four-day visit to Bangladesh that it "remains concerned about reports of refugees being arrested and detained for attempting to leave Bhashan Char".

While the UNHCR inspected the island on Monday, several thousand Rohingya held a protest against conditions there, with some throwing rocks and smashing windows, police said.

The UNHCR said it was "deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who were injured" during the demonstrations.

It added that those on the island, which critics say is vulnerable to the cyclones that hit the region, needed "access to meaningful livelihoods opportunities, skills development, education, health and access to cash to facilitate their daily lives".