Controversial operation ... Bangladesh transfers Rohingya refugees to Basan Shar Island, which is known for its typhoons and floods.

Bangladesh began on Thursday transferring more than a thousand Rohingya refugees to Basan Shar Island, which has been hit by cyclones and floods frequently, in a controversial process facing criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.

About 922 Rohingya left the Cox's Bazar camps by bus bound for the port of Chittagong, before being transferred to naval ships Friday to Basan Shar in the Bay of Bengal.

The district police chief said that 20 buses left the scene in two convoys, the first carrying 423 passengers in 10 buses, and the second 499 in 10 other buses, explaining that other buses were preparing to move later Thursday.

The Bangladesh Navy has built shelters and a dam on the island to accommodate at least 100,000 Rohingya refugees to protect them from the floods.

Officials had stated that about 2,500 Rohingya refugees were due to be resettled on the island during the first phase of the deportation.

The United Nations comments

For his part, the United Nations office in Bangladesh confirmed in a brief statement Thursday that it "does not participate" in this transfer process, about which it is receiving "little information" about it.

The statement said that the United Nations was not allowed to conduct an independent assessment of the "security, viability and viability" of the island, stressing that refugees "must be able to make a free and fact-based decision regarding their resettlement."

The statement stressed the need for refugees, upon arrival at the site, to receive education and health care, and to be able to leave if they wish to do so.

It is noteworthy that about 750,000 Rohingya Muslims, who form a persecuted minority in Myanmar, fled in 2017 due to an ethnic cleansing in the west of the country led by the army and Buddhist militias, and joined the 200,000 Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in Bangladesh due to previous waves of violence.

The massive influx of refugees has created camps suffering from the misery exacerbated by the spread of the new Coronavirus and allowed drug smuggling to flourish.