<p>Hundreds of Rohingya refugees on a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal will not be allowed to leave unless they agree to return home, Bangladesh authorities said Thursday.</p>.<p>The 306 Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar were put on Bhashan Char island in April after being taken off two boats trying to traffic them to Malaysia.</p>.<p>Their plight has been taken up by the United Nations, an international rights group and community leaders, who want them moved to more established refugee camps on the mainland.</p>.<p>"They will stay at Bhasan Char until they are repatriated to Myanmar," Mohammed Khorshed Alam Khan, administrator for the district covering the island, told AFP.</p>.<p>He said the refugees are well taken care of and have better facilities than in the overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar where 700,000 Rohingya fled in 2017 to escape a Myanmar military clampdown.</p>.<p><strong>READ: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/crowded-in-camps-rohingya-refugees-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-820710.html" target="_blank">Crowded in camps, Rohingya refugees vulnerable to coronavirus</a></strong></p>.<p>In April, Bangladesh authorities said the Rohingya would be kept on the island in order to stop the spread of coronavirus in the sprawling refugee camps.</p>.<p>But Human Rights Watch (HRW) questioned that motivation and said the refugees were not being treated well.</p>.<p>"Bangladesh authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to detain refugees on a spit of land in the middle of a churning monsoon sea while their families anxiously pray for their return," said Brad Adams, the organisation's Asia representative.</p>.<p>He also asked why Bangladesh authorities were not giving aid workers access to the island settlement.</p>.<p>A Rohingya leader from the Cox's Bazar camps said relatives of those on the island wanted to hold talks with Bangladesh's refugee commissioner.</p>.<p>"We request the authorities to send our children to our families," said Mohib Ullah, head of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, which lobbies for the Rohingya.</p>.<p>HRW said it had received reports that refugees on Bhashan Char had little freedom of movement or adequate access to food, safe water and medical care.</p>.<p>A government official involved with the case rejected the criticism but admitted some refugees wanted to be reunited with their families.</p>
<p>Hundreds of Rohingya refugees on a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal will not be allowed to leave unless they agree to return home, Bangladesh authorities said Thursday.</p>.<p>The 306 Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar were put on Bhashan Char island in April after being taken off two boats trying to traffic them to Malaysia.</p>.<p>Their plight has been taken up by the United Nations, an international rights group and community leaders, who want them moved to more established refugee camps on the mainland.</p>.<p>"They will stay at Bhasan Char until they are repatriated to Myanmar," Mohammed Khorshed Alam Khan, administrator for the district covering the island, told AFP.</p>.<p>He said the refugees are well taken care of and have better facilities than in the overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar where 700,000 Rohingya fled in 2017 to escape a Myanmar military clampdown.</p>.<p><strong>READ: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/crowded-in-camps-rohingya-refugees-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-820710.html" target="_blank">Crowded in camps, Rohingya refugees vulnerable to coronavirus</a></strong></p>.<p>In April, Bangladesh authorities said the Rohingya would be kept on the island in order to stop the spread of coronavirus in the sprawling refugee camps.</p>.<p>But Human Rights Watch (HRW) questioned that motivation and said the refugees were not being treated well.</p>.<p>"Bangladesh authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to detain refugees on a spit of land in the middle of a churning monsoon sea while their families anxiously pray for their return," said Brad Adams, the organisation's Asia representative.</p>.<p>He also asked why Bangladesh authorities were not giving aid workers access to the island settlement.</p>.<p>A Rohingya leader from the Cox's Bazar camps said relatives of those on the island wanted to hold talks with Bangladesh's refugee commissioner.</p>.<p>"We request the authorities to send our children to our families," said Mohib Ullah, head of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, which lobbies for the Rohingya.</p>.<p>HRW said it had received reports that refugees on Bhashan Char had little freedom of movement or adequate access to food, safe water and medical care.</p>.<p>A government official involved with the case rejected the criticism but admitted some refugees wanted to be reunited with their families.</p>