"The Government of Bangladesh should utilize existing quarantine facilities for Rohingya refugees potentially exposed to COVID-19 and suspend its use of Bhasan Char island for refugees, said Fortify Rights today. Bangladesh authorities confirmed yesterday the first case of COVID-19 in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District. Bangladesh authorities are currently holding in quarantine at least 300 Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char, a poorly equipped, flood-prone island located off the coast of mainland Bangladesh. On May 7, the Bangladesh Navy transferred to Bhasan Char Rohingya survivors found on board a ship adrift in the Bay of Bengal. Five days earlier, on May 2, Bangladesh authorities detained and transferred to the island 29 Rohingya survivors who escaped from a ship after making payments to the traffickers in exchange for their release. Fortify Rights believes that at least one more ship with up to 500 Rohingya refugees on board remains stranded at sea. On May 2, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen announced to the media, “Any new Rohingyas, if there are, will be sheltered at the Bhasan Char.” Fortify Rights interviewed a Rohingya survivor and four family members of survivors sent to Bhasan Char on May 2 as well as humanitarian aid workers. “My daughters are now on Bhasan Char,” said “H.K.,” a Rohingya father in Kutupalong camp. “They told me [by mobile phone] they are having difficulties and they were crying. They said they are very much afraid to stay [on the island].” The Government of Bangladesh first proposed the idea to relocate Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char in 2015. Dhaka eventually developed the island and planned to relocate refugees beginning in 2018 but repeatedly postponed relocation plans after consistent outcry and concern from Rohingya, governments, U.N. experts, and human rights and humanitarian organizations. In an open letter to Prime Minister Sheik Hasina on November 12, 2019, Fortify Rights and 38 other organizations called on the government to facilitate a U.N. technical assessment to ensure the arrangements on the island meet international standards before proceeding with relocations. The government has yet to facilitate such an assessment and questions remain about the arrangements on the island..."