The reason why Bhasan Char’s first internees were trafficking survivors was simply because they weren’t given a choice–they were transferred directly from their traffickers to the island. If they had a choice, they, and the tens of thousands that followed them, very likely would have chosen to return to their homes on the mainland. This lack of volition and respect for the rights and views of Rohingya refugees themselves, has been the hallmark of the Bhasan Char experiment.

In our latest report, our organszation Fortify Rights, consistently documented instances of forced relocations and coercive transfers to Bhasan Char. The more than 100 Rohingya refugees we spoke with to develop the report described at length the coercive, misleading, and underhand tactics Bangladeshi authorities used to force Rohingya to relocate to Bhasan Char. These methods included making promises of material benefits, such as employment and monthly cash payments, and prioritisation for third-country resettlement - none of which ever fully materialised.

Once on the island, Rohingya faced and continue to face an oppressive regime of constant surveillance, barbed wire, and guard towers. Compounding these prison-like conditions is the fact that Rohingya wishing to officially leave the island, even temporarily, face a bewildering, and often insurmountable, array of bureaucratic obstacles, and often ending in refusal. This has resulted in Rohingya refugees missing opportunities to visit ill and dying relatives on the mainland, being absent from important family gatherings, and waiting months to receive specialist medical attention. It has also driven refugees to engage smugglers in dangerous, often catastrophic escape attempts.