Recently in Bangladesh there has been a mass shipment of Rohingya refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Nepal. The government claims that the migration of these people is completely by choice and that it is simply to combat overpopulation due to the surplus of Rohingya people fleeing the neighboring Myanmar. However, upon interviews and reports, it’s speculated that the government of Bangladesh is tricking, bribing, and forcing these immigrants to be shipped off to the island with poor conditions. The island is prone to flooding, and only emerged from the sea twenty years ago. This could be extremely dangerous for the refugees, and is not comforting to a group of people who had fled to Bangladesh to escape genocide and oppression.
The Rohingya people fled Myanmar to avoid being killed by the government, who claim to have no intent of genocide, however it’s accepted by most as fact that that’s what the situation was in 2017. These refugees came to Bangladesh seeking safety and protection from an oppressive and dangerous government, and are now being forced to live on a small island unfit for the amount of people being sent over. This is an interesting issue to analyze because there are two standpoints you could take. On one hand, Bangladesh has no real responsibility or the means to care for and accommodate for the many refugees. However, from a humanitarian perspective, don’t they? In my opinion, humans should protect and care for other humans, and the principle of simply shipping these already traumatized people off to a remote island that’s unfit doesn’t sit right with me.
In 2017, when the genocide of the Rohingya people was happening in Mynamar, the United Nations became involved, since they believed it to be a human rights violation and a crime against humanity. The UN is an IGO that aims to keep peace and protect people around the world. The UN is a political IGO, where countries work together to keep global peace. The instance of genocide is a threat to world peace, warranting intervention from the UN. They were involved in caring for these refugees and aiding in their safety. However, in a statement they stated that they had no part in the relocation from Bangladesh.