Last week, Bangladesh moved their second group of Burmese Rohingya refugees to an uninhabited island off the coast of mainland, equipped with shelter and enough infrastructure for a sustainable and safe society. However, several human rights groups alongside the United Nations have voiced concerns over the condition of the island: it’s very susceptible to disaster during monsoon season, having flooded devastatingly in the past.
The Rohingya refugees seek asylum from Burma, whose government has committed acts of genocide against the stateless ethnic group. Their recently dissolved junta government has caused the deaths of thousands, and the displacement of over a million Rohingya refugees, from the western Burmese state of Rakhine especially. Bangladesh, neighbor to Rakhine, has accepted approximately a million Rohingya refugees over the past several years and is now struggling to humanely support the influx.
The alternative plan of action as opposed to the relocation of refugees to the uninhabited island is to establish safe-zones within the Rakhine state and throughout Burma, although rights groups have similarly criticized this plan alongside aggressing a state supported by powerful allies for their cultural and economic significance. Bengali neighbors China and India already both urge the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to Burma to resolve the crisis, putting Bangladesh in a precarious position.
Accepting so many refugees is also bound to have regional and national consequences for Bangladesh: although a majority of the citizenry favors accepting asylum seekers from an oppressive regime, this may draw a schism in government following socioeconomic, religious, and regional impacts. For instance, risks of extremist or jihadist groups becoming prevalent in Bangladesh have elevated as the Awami government maintains their pledge to secularity despite a 90% Muslim population. An already high nationalist trend in Bangladesh, with the Awami League holding a decisive majority in government, has much potential to be overstimulated, acting in the same tendencies as their neighbors.
Overall, Bangladesh has a lot to lose from pursuing human rights concerns. Geopolitically, Burma is far more important to South and Southeast Asia than Bangladesh, as a culturally and religiously homogeneous state with key centers of trade and access to the Bay of Bengal and South China naval and trade routes. Bangladesh, on the other hand, is a burden upon the region; despite its potential for agriculture, its sea-level geography at bare minimum is the cause of widespread disease and disaster very often. Although Bangladesh maintains a stable relationship with India, recent nationalist tendencies in both states as well as the handling of the Kashmir problem divides them in their fundamental ideals.