Attempted repatriation to Myanmar

By mid-2018—as the burden of hosting nearly a million refugees (mostly at Kutupalong) became increasingly stressful and frustrating to the Bangladesh government and public—they began pushing for repatriation of the Rohingya, back to Myanmar.^[36][37]

However, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh refused to be repatriated, due to continuing persecution and violence of the Rohingya still in Myanmar, and Myanmar's refusal to accept Rohingya demands to be reinstated as citizens, restored to their lands and property, granted freedom, and have international observers or peacekeepers to safeguard the Rohingyas' rights and safety^[38][39][40]—demands supported by international organizations.^[41][42][43] The Rohingya refugees boycotted and protested repatriation events in 2018^[38] and 2019,^[44] and shortly after the last 2019 repatriation event, on the second anniversary of the 25 August 2017 attacks on the Rohingya, a mass memorial service and protest arose in the camps, involving tens of thousands of Rohingya (some estimates say 100,000^[45][46]), catching alarmed Bangladesh national authorities by surprise (though district officials had been aware of the event).^[47][48][49]

Attempted relocation to Bhasan Char island

Efforts to reduce the population of the camps—by moving about 100,000 Rohingya to an island—met with equally firm resistance. Group "shelters," and elevated storm shelters, were built by the government on Bhasan Char—a newly emerged silt island in the Bay of Bengal, 37 miles from the mainland (and over 50 miles from the camps) -- but, again, the Rohingya refused relocation from the camps, citing fears of isolation from society and aid, vulnerability to cyclones (the low island was reported to flood annually, particularly being submerged during storms at high tide), absence of forest and farmland needed for subsistence, and effective imprisonment.^[50][51] Their objections have been continually supported by international human rights organizations and officials^[51][52][53] and aid organizations, and expert reports on the island and climate.^[50][51]

Communications restrictions

Also, in September 2019, the government began asking, then instructing, telecommunications companies to restrict telecommunications access in the camps. By forbidding sale of cell phone SIM cards to Rohingya, and reducing cellular telephone service from 4G and 3G levels—down to only 2G levels—internet communications to, from, and within the camps became impractical.^[22][58]

Defending the internet blackout, the government cited "security" concerns, noting criminal activity in the camps—though refugees, and some of their advocates, complained that the blackout made the refugees more vulnerable to criminals, and potentially unable to call police as a crime was happening.^[22][58] The restrictions have continued, intermittently, until becoming continuous—over the objections of international human rights and aid organizations.^[35]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of human-rights and aid organizations warned that the communications blackout would limit refugees' timely access to reliable medical information, advice and assistance, and increase confusion, misinformation, paranoia and panic, and aggravate the spread of the virus within the densely populated camps.^[59][60][61] However the government refused to lift the ban, continuing to cite "safety" and "security" concerns.^[62]

Fires

On 12 May 2020, a fire erupted from a gas-cylinder shop in the camp, spreading through hundreds of homes in the camp's largest fire to date. Ten people were injured, 330 homes/shops were destroyed, and 300 were damaged. Such fires had been predicted as likely for such overcrowded refugee camps.^[64]

COVID-19 pandemic

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading globally in early 2020, experts and aid agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson in Bangladesh warned that densely populated refugee camps in and around Cox's Bazar were at risk, especially due to poor sanitation and nutrition predisposing the residents to severe illness.^[65][66] Without high-speed internet to quickly communicate health information or adequate resources to distribute medical care, the camps' five hospitals, with a combined total of 340 beds, were predictably overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases in less than two months, subsequently raising deaths from malaria. Misinformation spread by word of mouth included rumors that the virus was not highly contagious and that health workers were killing infected patients, resulting in patients not seeking treatment until they became severely ill and had already infected others.^[65][67] Officials and medical experts warned that COVID-19 deaths in the camps could reach 2,000 or more, potentially exceeding deaths directly caused by military persecution in Myanmar.^[68][69][70]

By March 2022, Bangladeshi authorities further restricted movement between the camp and larger country to reduce transmission, increasing to a complete lockdown throughout Cox's Bazar by the following month, which prevented the entry of 80% of arriving aid workers, such as those returning from travel abroad.^[70][71] These measures were enforced by police and military patrols, leaving the Rohingya refugees with dwindling food supplies, reduced medical assistance, and halted educational/counseling services.^[65][72] COVID-19 first arrived in the camps in May, confirmed through positive tests from two Rohingya refugees and ten Bangladeshis in the surrounding area.^[73]

Continued internet and cellphone blackout

The Bangladesh government continued the internet communications blackout in the camps, despite warnings from aid agencies and human rights organizations that limiting communications to, from, and within the camps would result in dangerously inadequate responses to outbreaks of COVID-19, and to misinformation, paranoia and panic that could threaten public health.^[59][60][61] Refugee commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukder asked the government to end the communications blackout in the camps,^[72] but the government refused, continuing to allege "safety" and "security" concerns.^[62]

Cyclone Amphan and monsoon fears

In mid-May, Cyclone Amphan developed in the Indian Ocean, and swept up the Bay of Bengal to India and Bangladesh. At its peak, it was the largest cyclone ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal, and its exact point of landfall, and the predicted scope of destruction, was uncertain at first—heightening fears that it could make landfall close to the Rohingya camps, with devastating consequences.^[74]

Volunteers, government and aid agencies shored up fragile hillsides and structures to resist the impact.^[75] As the eye of the storm approached the mainland, red warning flags were raised at the main Rohingya camps at Cox's Bazar—escalating storm warnings from level six to level nine, the most severe warning.^[76] However, Amphan tracked towards the eastern edge of India and western Bangladesh, over a hundred miles from the camps. Heavy rains and high winds from the outer fringes of the storm did limited damage to the camps.^[77]

Despite the relatively mild impact of Cyclone Amphan, climatologists warned that Indian Ocean storms had increased in frequency and severity in recent decades.^[74] Future monsoon seasons are therefore expected to increase flooding and landslides within the camps.^[78][63]

Bhasan Char relocation revived

Though the government continued to urge the relocation of refugees from the camp to the island of Bhasan Char, they faced opposition from global diplomats, human rights, aid organizations, and the Rohingya refugees themselves.

However, in March or April 2020, around 300 Rohingya attempted to flee the mainland camp for Malaysia, by boat, and—after being turned away by Malaysian authorities—became stranded at sea. Though they were rescued by the Bangladesh navy, in early May, the government, rather than return them to the mainland camps from which they had come, instead involuntarily "quarantined" them on Bhashan Char island—ostensibly over the risk that the castaways may have been infected with COVID-19.^[79][80]

The same opponents of the Bhasan Char relocation plan urged that the new detainees be returned to their families at the mainland camps as soon as the normal 3-week quarantine period (for COVID-19) was completed. However, despite pleas from human rights organizations and the U.N. Secretary General, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister later announced that the refugees "probably" would not be returned to the mainland camps, until ready to return to Myanmar.^[81]

Concerns among their relatives in the camps, and among Rohingya advocates, escalated when Cyclone Amphan approached Bangladesh because the island—which was much closer to the storm than the mainland camps—was known to be prone to complete flooding in major storms.

However, the center of the cyclone passed at a distance of over 40 miles from the island, so it only dealt a minor blow to the island. While no reporters have been allowed on the island, government reports list no deaths or damage to island facilities.^[77] Government authorities seized on this news to declare that Bhasan Char's had proved its stability under harsh weather conditions, renewing their relocation campaign.^[82][83]