Bhasan Char: Remote Island Now Home to Thousands of Rohingya Refugees

Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar has led hundreds of thousands to flee to the neighboring country of Bangladesh. By some estimates, as many as a million Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh, many living in camps in Cox’s Bazar, not far from the Myanmar border.

Bangladesh has started to relocate these migrants to the small island of Bhasan Char. Bhasan Char lies North and West of Cox’s Bazar, across the Bay of Bengal.

Only a few thousand Rohingya have been moved to Bhasan Char: about 3600 in December and another 1700 this past weekend. Bangladesh ultimately hopes to rehouse 100,000 Rohingya to the island.

There is not a lot of information about life on Bhasan Char. Al Jazeera has noted that international reporters are not allowed to visit. There are concerns that the island is prone to flooding as it emerged from the sea just 20 years ago.

These developments have me returning to Geoffrey Heeren’s work: Distancing Refugees.

-KitJ