More than 500 people – including children – have been stranded on two fishing trawlers in the Bay of Bengal, after Bangladesh refused to allow the refugees to come ashore. Last week, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister announced that the boats would not be allowed to dock, adding that in light of the Covid-19 pandemic the country could not take responsibility for any new refugees. Urging Bangladesh to open its ports, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights decried the situation as a “human tragedy of terrible proportions.” Meanwhile, in a statement released on 25 April, Human Rights Watch said that “the pandemic cannot justify a blanket ban such as Bangladesh’s refusal to allow any Rohingya now or in the future to disembark. Forcing them to remain on the boat also risks their right to health.”
On 8 April, Bangladesh announced the lockdown of Cox’s Bazar, the country’s southern district where more than 855,000 Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded refugee camps. (Population density inside the camps is more than 40 times the average density elsewhere in Bangladesh.) The chief of the district’s administration stated that entry and exit from the region would be prohibited, and that stringent legal action would be taken against those violating the order. Police and soldiers reportedly set up roadblocks on main roads within the district, and conduct patrols inside and outside camps. With government bans on mobile phone and internet use in the camps still in place, many refugees continue to lack access to important public health messaging.
- R. Ratcliffe, “Bangladesh Urged to Open Ports to Allow Rohingya Refugee Boats,” The Guardian, 27 April 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/27/bangladesh-urged-to-open-ports-to-allow-in-rohingya-refugee-boats
- Al Jazeera, “Bangladesh: Cox’s Bazar Under Lockdown Over Coronavirus Fear,” 8 April 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/bangladesh-cox-bazar-lockdown-coronavirus-fear-200408143957472.html
- RFI, “Rohingya Camps in Bangladesh Under Complete Virus Lockdown,” 9 April 2020, http://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20200409-rohingya-camps-in-bangladesh-in-complete-coronavirus-lockdown-risk-spread-covid-19
- UNHCR, “‘If Covid-19 Arrives in the Camp, It Will Be Devastating,’” 21 April 2020, https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2020/4/5e9ead964/covid-19-arrives-camp-devastating.html
- A Boat Carrying Suspected Rohingya Refugees Off the Island of Langkawi in Malaysia, (Maritime Enforcement Agency Handout, EPA, R. Ratcliffe, “Bangladesh Urged to Open Ports to Allow Rohingya Refugee Boats,” The Guardian, 27 April 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/27/bangladesh-urged-to-open-ports-to-allow-in-rohingya-refugee-boats)
