Bangladesh: Rohingya risk drowning to escape island camp

International aid groups are once again drawing attention to the plight of Rohingya refugees relocated to the remote, flood-prone island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal. Earlier this month, dozens of people drowned as they tried to flee what some are calling a prison island.

According to the United Nations, 82 million people had been displaced by wars and civil unrest at the end of 2020. Among them are stateless Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh facing constant setbacks in returning to their homeland Myanmar.

More than 1,100 people were killed when the Rana Plaza textile factory collapsed in 2013. The tragedy drew attention to poor safety standards in Bangladesh's lucrative garment industry.

In Bangladesh headlines are dominated by violence: Secular bloggers murdered by extremists, opponents of the government disappear, the Hindu minority is under attack. Why is Bangladesh finding it harder and harder to reconcile democracy and religion?

Myanmar's treatment of its Rohingya Muslim population is set to be formally determined as a genocide by Washington. This is expected to boost international pressure on the country's military-led government.

The ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims suffer severe persecution in Myanmar. Following a deadly crackdown by the Burmese army in 2017, some 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they were settled in the southern town of Cox’s Bazar. Five years on, the town is home to the world’s largest and most dangerous refugee camp, with frequent floods, fires and gang wars. In December 2020, the Bangladeshi government decided to relocate some of the Rohingya refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. Our reporters Alban Alvarez and Mathilde Cusin managed to gain access to it.

A massive fire that ripped through a container depot in Sitakunda in Bangladesh has killed at least 38 people. The cause of the blaze remains unclear.

Residents of a town in northeastern Bangladesh navigated through flooded streets on Monday as the country experiences what officials have called some of its worst monsoon floods in recent history. Monsoon rains in low-lying Bangladesh have triggered catastrophic flooding in Sylhet, leaving a quarter of its 15 million population stranded amid fast-rising waters and swollen rivers.

Excessive and erratic rainfall has caused devastating flooding, hitting parts of Bangladesh hard. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said there will be no quick respite for the country.

The International Court of Justice has thrown out Myanmar's objections to queries over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority. This paves the way for the case to be heard in full, a process that could take years.

More than a million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh after having fled neighboring Myanmar.

As yearly floods increase in severity, residents are increasingly struggling to rebuild their homes.