Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his officials have visited Rohingya refugees on the Bhasan Char silt island in the Bay of Bengal; and if he will make a statement.

The British High Commissioner to Bangladesh participated in a visit to Bhasan Char on 3 April, along with heads of a number of diplomatic missions based in Dhaka. They were briefed by officials from the Government of Bangladesh and were given a tour of the island which included seeing the residential accommodation and multi-purpose centres built for the Rohingya refugees. We remain clear that the refugees need to relocate voluntarily, be safe on Bhasan Char, and have access to education and healthcare, including Covid-19 vaccinations as these become available. We welcome the UN's first appraisal visit to evaluate the safety and sustainability of life on Bhasan Char but recognise that further conversations are needed between the Government of Bangladesh and the UN to discuss protection and technical issues in detail. The UK government is not funding operations on Bhasan Char.