Chittagong, Bangladesh: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on 6th November that the government has plans to move Rohingya refugees from the camps at Kutupalang and Nayapara in Cox's Bazar to more suitable places, according to PM's Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhury who was quoting the PM.
He said: “The Prime Minister was speaking at a meeting with the high officials of the disaster management and relief ministry at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
“The Rohingya refugees will be shifted to a wider area as they are now living in a very inhumane conditions.”
The refugee camp areas near the Cox's Bazar beach would be developed for tourism, the Prime Minister added.
According to official statistics, some 34,000 registered Rohingya refugees (under UNHCR supervision) are now living in Bangladesh. However, the unofficial number of the refugees (not under UNHCR supervised) is 200,000 to 500,000.
Asharff, a refugee teacher in the camps said: “We have been living a very inhumane condition in the refugee camps since 1991-1992. The refugees congratulate the Bangladeshi government for taking this decision to shift the refugees from the their existing camps to better places.”
According to sources, the government of Bangladeshi government stopped repatriating Rohingya refugees in 2005.
Nur Alam, an unregistered refugee from Kutupalong said: “The Bangladesh government didn’t mention what would happen to unregistered refugees living in Kutupalong and Leda. If, the authorities shifted us in the same way as the registered refugee, it will be good for us, otherwise where we will go if the government changes the area into a tourist spot.”
