Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thanks. I think that's very important. As Zaid said, refugee volunteers play a crucial role in giving us this data, but at the same time, I think humanitarian agencies such as MSF/Doctors Without Borders also have a role, as well as the UN agencies. All those different datasets

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We've made the request to the Bangladeshi government. Not just Amnesty but a group of international human rights organizations made this request after August of this year, but no, we haven't had the chance to visit the island. It has been off limits. Our call has been to ensure

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would just add that a cyclone has not directly hit the island. That is exactly the reason, as you mentioned, it's important that the UN gets to carry out a full technical and protection assessment before this relocation happens. We don't have the scientific information you were

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Right now the government's proposition is for about 100,000 refugees to be relocated there. As I mentioned, about 300 refugees were already moved in May. There are plans to relocate more in the coming weeks and months.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  At this time, based on the Bangladesh government's claim, it's their own funding. The Bangladesh navy has developed the island. The concern we have been expressing for this island is that it's made solely for the refugees at this time, whereas on the mainland you have the coexi

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think UNHCR is the central agency for refugee management in the camps in Bangladesh. Certainly, they have their own dataset in identification of the refugees. Each of the refugee families has their own identification numbers, and that's used to determine the different sets of i

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it's still a little too early to determine how this will be distributed, but certainly the point you raise is going to be of major concern because of Bangladesh being a South Asian country and, on the other end of receiving the vaccines, there will be constraints because

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  To add to what Zaid has said, the gender component is very sensitive, particularly in the refugee camps, because women and children represent more than half of the refugee population. In various situations, including when there were hundreds of these refugees stranded in the sea,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it all goes to that area about how you empower the refugees to speak about their concerns, and that goes for all the genders, for men and women, for old and young, for all groups of the population.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Internet restriction has been lifted since August 24 of this year. It certainly has had an impact, particularly during COVID-19 in terms of getting information at the right time. Right now in Bangladesh in the refugee camps, the Internet restrictions have been lifted.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Zaid, do you want to go first?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Sure. As I was saying, Burma's government has proposed to relocate 100,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char, which is a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. What we are suggesting, and what the refugee community itself as well as the international community time and again have s

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it would be important that this discussion about the refugee participation be pursued in a transparent way and that there be a policy mechanism to ensure that there is clarity on how refugees are involved in each of the decisions.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The restrictions that have been put in place have proved to be relatively good for the refugee community, because clearly in Bangladesh, as we have seen, the spread of the virus has been quite large. It is a large population and it's difficult to control. I think it was somewhat