Bangladesh must not "rush to relocate refugees" from the Rohingya Muslim minority, a top UN rights official said Friday, amid plans to move the community to an island vulnerable to extreme monsoon weather.

Some 750,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar escaped a bloody military crackdown in northern Rakhine state since August 2017 and joined some 300,000 refugees living in the already overcrowded Bangladesh camps.

Dhaka has spent some $280 million transforming Bhashan Char, a muddy silt islet that only emerged from the Bay of Bengal nearly two decades ago, into a camp for some of the refugees.

But the island, in a coastal region where extreme weather has killed hundreds of thousands of people in recent decades, is one hour by boat from the nearest land and over a stretch of sea prone to violent storms.

Yanghee Lee, a UN Special Rapporteur of human rights, visited the island on Thursday and urged Bangladesh to observe "caution and patience" before proceeding with any relocation plan.

"There should be no rush to relocate refugees, such as before the monsoon season which is one of the possibilities that has been outlined to me," she told reporters on Friday.

"It is imperative that any measures to relocate the refugees enhance their enjoyment of rights and do not create a new crisis," she added.

Lee also advised Dhaka to share feasibility studies and allow the UN to carry out a "full technical and humanitarian assessment, including a security assessment, before making any further plans for the housing of people on the island".

"The island's isolation does particularly trouble me, especially in the event of cyclones or other natural disasters," she added.

Lee did not provide further details about the island, which is still strictly off limits to the public and the media.

Plans for the island camp were first floated in 2015 and Bangladesh had previously wanted to start relocating refugees to the island last June before the monsoon season began.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was then slated to open the new settlement, built to house 100,000 refugees, last October, but the inauguration was postponed.

A senior disaster management official told AFP in September that nearly three-quarters of the project was complete, with the navy fast-tracking construction of shelters and evacuation centres.

Local officials have pointed to a newly-constructed three-metre (nine-feet) embankment around the island that they say will keep out tidal surges in the event of a cyclone.

Lee, who also visited Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, said the refugees "cannot return to Myanmar in the near future".

"I encourage the government to begin to engage in longer-term planning and prepare the local population for this reality," she said.

Bangladesh must not "rush to relocate refugees" from the Rohingya Muslim minority, a top UN rights official said Friday, amid plans to move the community to an island vulnerable to extreme monsoon weather.

Bangladesh must not "rush to relocate refugees" from the Rohingya Muslim minority, a top UN rights official said Friday, amid plans to move the community to an island vulnerable to extreme monsoon weather. Some 750,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar escaped a bloody military crackdown in northern Rakhine state since August 2017 and joined some 300,000 refugees living in the already overcrowded Bangladesh camps. Dhaka has spent some $280 million transforming Bhashan Char, a muddy silt islet that only emerged from the Bay of Bengal nearly two decades ago, into a camp for some of the refugees. But the island, in a coastal region where extreme weather has killed hundreds of thousands of people in recent decades, is one hour by boat from the nearest land and over a stretch of sea prone to violent storms. Yanghee Lee, a UN Special Rapporteur of human rights, visited the island on Thursday and urged Bangladesh to observe "caution and patience" before proceeding with any relocation plan. "There should be no rush to relocate refugees, such as before the monsoon season which is one of the possibilities that has been outlined to me," she told reporters on Friday. "It is imperative that any measures to relocate the refugees enhance their enjoyment of rights and do not create a new crisis," she added. Lee also advised Dhaka to share feasibility studies and allow the UN to carry out a "full technical and humanitarian assessment, including a security assessment, before making any further plans for the housing of people on the island". "The island's isolation does particularly trouble me, especially in the event of cyclones or other natural disasters," she added. Lee did not provide further details about the island, which is still strictly off limits to the public and the media. Plans for the island camp were first floated in 2015 and Bangladesh had previously wanted to start relocating refugees to the island last June before the monsoon season began. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was then slated to open the new settlement, built to house 100,000 refugees, last October, but the inauguration was postponed. A senior disaster management official told AFP in September that nearly three-quarters of the project was complete, with the navy fast-tracking construction of shelters and evacuation centres. Local officials have pointed to a newly-constructed three-metre (nine-feet) embankment around the island that they say will keep out tidal surges in the event of a cyclone. Lee, who also visited Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, said the refugees "cannot return to Myanmar in the near future". "I encourage the government to begin to engage in longer-term planning and prepare the local population for this reality," she said.

UN expert urges caution on Bangladesh's Rohingya island 'relocation' plan

The UN human rights chief warned today that possible acts of &quot;genocide and ethnic cleansing&quot; against Myanmar&#39;s Rohingya Muslim minority could fuel a religious-based conflict that spreads beyond the country&#39;s borders.

&quot;Myanmar faces a very serious crisis -- with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region,&quot; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra&#39;ad Al Hussein said during a speech in Jakarta.

His remarks follow the publication of a report last week about mass graves of Rohingya in Myanmar&#39;s crisis-hit Rakhine state, where government troops have been accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the minority.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled to bordering Bangladesh since last August.

Myanmar denied the mass grave report and wider allegations of rights abuses, saying it launched a proportionate crackdown on Rohingya rebels.

But it has blocked reporters and UN investigators from independently accessing the conflict zone and investigating refugee claims about a genocide.

Zeid on Monday said Myanmar had enjoyed strong growth including a focus on socio-economic development in the Rakhine region, but that this could not mask &quot;institutionalised discrimination&quot; against the minority.

The UN rights chief is due to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as well as top government officials and rights groups during his three-day visit.

Among the issues expected to be discussed is a crackdown on the LGBT community in Indonesia, the world&#39;s largest Muslim-majority country.

Parliament is set to pass a long-dormant bill to make sex outside marriage illegal. Gay marriage does not exist in Indonesia, meaning homosexual relations would be effectively outlawed.&nbsp;

'Myanmar faces a very serious crisis -- with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region,' said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

The UN human rights chief warned today that possible acts of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority could fuel a religious-based conflict that spreads beyond the country's borders. "Myanmar faces a very serious crisis -- with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said during a speech in Jakarta. His remarks follow the publication of a report last week about mass graves of Rohingya in Myanmar's crisis-hit Rakhine state, where government troops have been accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the minority. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled to bordering Bangladesh since last August. Myanmar denied the mass grave report and wider allegations of rights abuses, saying it launched a proportionate crackdown on Rohingya rebels. But it has blocked reporters and UN investigators from independently accessing the conflict zone and investigating refugee claims about a genocide. Zeid on Monday said Myanmar had enjoyed strong growth including a focus on socio-economic development in the Rakhine region, but that this could not mask "institutionalised discrimination" against the minority. The UN rights chief is due to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as well as top government officials and rights groups during his three-day visit. Among the issues expected to be discussed is a crackdown on the LGBT community in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country. Parliament is set to pass a long-dormant bill to make sex outside marriage illegal. Gay marriage does not exist in Indonesia, meaning homosexual relations would be effectively outlawed.

Rohingya abuses could spark regional conflict: UN rights chief

The United States has decided to place Myanmar on its global list of worst offenders in human trafficking, officials said, a move aimed at prodding the country&rsquo;s new democratically elected government and its still-powerful military to do more to curb the use of child soldiers and forced labour. 
 
The reprimand of Myanmar comes despite US efforts to court the strategically important country to help counteract China&rsquo;s rise in the region and build a Southeast Asian bulwark against Beijing&rsquo;s territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea. 
 
Myanmar&rsquo;s demotion, part of the State Department&rsquo;s closely watched annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report due to be released on Thursday, also appears intended to send a message of US concern about continued widespread persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority nation. 
 
The country&rsquo;s new leader, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, has been criticised internationally for neglecting the Rohingya issue since her administration took office this year. 
 
Washington has faced a complex balancing act over Myanmar, a former military dictatorship that has emerged from decades of international isolation since launching sweeping political changes in 2011. 
 
President Barack Obama&rsquo;s diplomatic opening to Myanmar is widely seen as a key foreign policy achievement as he enters his final seven months in office, but even as he has eased some sanctions he has kept others in place to maintain leverage for further reforms. 
 
At the same time, Washington wants to keep Myanmar from slipping back into China&rsquo;s orbit at a time when US officials are trying to forge a unified regional front. 
 
The US decision to drop Myanmar to &ldquo;Tier 3,&rdquo; the lowest grade, putting it alongside countries like Iran, North Korea and Syria, was confirmed by a US official in Washington and a Bangkok-based official from an international organisation informed of the move. Another person familiar with the matter said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to turn you away from this conclusion.&rdquo; All spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
A Tier 3 rating can trigger sanctions limiting access to US and international aid. But US presidents frequently waive such action. 
 
The decision on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was one of the most hotly contested in this year&rsquo;s report, and followed concerns that some assessments in last year&rsquo;s human trafficking report were watered down for political reasons. 
 
There was intense internal debate between senior US diplomats who wanted to reward Myanmar for progress on political reforms and US human rights experts who argued that not enough was being done to curb human trafficking, the US official said. 
 
A Reuters investigation published last August found that senior diplomats repeatedly overruled the State Department&rsquo;s anti-trafficking unit and inflated the grades of 14 strategically important countries. The State Department denied any political considerations but US lawmakers called for reforms in the decision-making process. 
 
This year&rsquo;s decision on Myanmar marked a win for the State Department&rsquo;s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which was set up to independently grade countries&rsquo; efforts to prevent modern slavery, such as the illegal trade in humans for forced labour or prostitution. 
 
Because Myanmar had been on the so-called &ldquo;Tier 2 Watch List&rdquo; for the maximum four years permitted by law, the State Department either had to justify an upgrade or else automatically downgrade it. A Tier 3 ranking means that anti-trafficking efforts do not meet &ldquo;minimum standards&rdquo; and it is &ldquo;not making significant efforts to do so.&rdquo; 
 
State Department spokesman John Kirby said: &ldquo;We will not comment on the contents of this year&rsquo;s report until after the report is released.&rdquo; 
 
 
Child soldiers 
 
Deliberations on Myanmar&rsquo;s record focused heavily on efforts to halt the military&#39;s recruitment and use of child soldiers as well as forced labour, especially the coercion of local villagers to perform some work. Such practices have been documented by international human rights groups and are also outlined in last year&#39;s State Department report. 
 
A key issue that the U.S. administration considered before Myanmar&rsquo;s downgrade was alleged government complicity in human trafficking, including its failure to prosecute any civilian officials for their involvement in it, according to the person familiar with the situation. While the Myanmar military is credited with significant progress toward curbing the use of child soldiers, such as allowing international inspections of military bases, there was no indication the problem had been completely eradicated as the U.S. anti-trafficking office had urged, the source said.Human rights groups had lobbied U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry against upgrading Myanmar, saying it would be unearned. 
 
The diplomatic blow to Myanmar&rsquo;s government could be softened by the fact that the TIP report covered efforts during the year ending in March, under the previous administration of former junta general Thein Sein. 
 
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, assumed her government role in April, after her party won the country&rsquo;s first democratic elections in five decades. 
 
But with the generals still controlling three security ministries and holding a lock on 25 percent of seats in parliament, U.S. officials grappled with whether a downgrade could undermine cooperation from the military against human trafficking. 
 
For her part, Suu Kyi has recently unsettled U.S. officials by calling on them not to use the term &ldquo;Rohingya&rdquo; to refer to the Muslim minority in the country&rsquo;s north. Many in Myanmar refer to them as &quot;Bengalis,&quot; insinuating that they are stateless illegal immigrants. 
 
The United States has urged Myanmar to treat them as citizens. 
 
The 2015 TIP report highlighted that the government&#39;s denial of citizenship to an estimated 800,000 men, women and children in Burma -- the majority of them ethnic Rohingya -- &quot;significantly increased this population&#39;s vulnerability to trafficking&quot;. 
 
&ldquo;The chronic, chronic abuse of the Rohingya has not been dealt with at all,&rdquo; a U.S. congressional aide said, suggesting support on Capitol Hill for a downgrade this year. 
 
(Reuters)

The move is intended to send a message of US concern about continued widespread persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority

The United States has decided to place Myanmar on its global list of worst offenders in human trafficking, officials said, a move aimed at prodding the country’s new democratically elected government and its still-powerful military to do more to curb the use of child soldiers and forced labour. The reprimand of Myanmar comes despite US efforts to court the strategically important country to help counteract China’s rise in the region and build a Southeast Asian bulwark against Beijing’s territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea. Myanmar’s demotion, part of the State Department’s closely watched annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report due to be released on Thursday, also appears intended to send a message of US concern about continued widespread persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority nation. The country’s new leader, democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, has been criticised internationally for neglecting the Rohingya issue since her administration took office this year. Washington has faced a complex balancing act over Myanmar, a former military dictatorship that has emerged from decades of international isolation since launching sweeping political changes in 2011. President Barack Obama’s diplomatic opening to Myanmar is widely seen as a key foreign policy achievement as he enters his final seven months in office, but even as he has eased some sanctions he has kept others in place to maintain leverage for further reforms. At the same time, Washington wants to keep Myanmar from slipping back into China’s orbit at a time when US officials are trying to forge a unified regional front. The US decision to drop Myanmar to “Tier 3,” the lowest grade, putting it alongside countries like Iran, North Korea and Syria, was confirmed by a US official in Washington and a Bangkok-based official from an international organisation informed of the move. Another person familiar with the matter said: “I’m not going to turn you away from this conclusion.” All spoke on condition of anonymity. A Tier 3 rating can trigger sanctions limiting access to US and international aid. But US presidents frequently waive such action. The decision on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was one of the most hotly contested in this year’s report, and followed concerns that some assessments in last year’s human trafficking report were watered down for political reasons. There was intense internal debate between senior US diplomats who wanted to reward Myanmar for progress on political reforms and US human rights experts who argued that not enough was being done to curb human trafficking, the US official said. A Reuters investigation published last August found that senior diplomats repeatedly overruled the State Department’s anti-trafficking unit and inflated the grades of 14 strategically important countries. The State Department denied any political considerations but US lawmakers called for reforms in the decision-making process. This year’s decision on Myanmar marked a win for the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which was set up to independently grade countries’ efforts to prevent modern slavery, such as the illegal trade in humans for forced labour or prostitution. Because Myanmar had been on the so-called “Tier 2 Watch List” for the maximum four years permitted by law, the State Department either had to justify an upgrade or else automatically downgrade it. A Tier 3 ranking means that anti-trafficking efforts do not meet “minimum standards” and it is “not making significant efforts to do so.” State Department spokesman John Kirby said: “We will not comment on the contents of this year’s report until after the report is released.” Child soldiers Deliberations on Myanmar’s record focused heavily on efforts to halt the military's recruitment and use of child soldiers as well as forced labour, especially the coercion of local villagers to perform some work. Such practices have been documented by international human rights groups and are also outlined in last year's State Department report. A key issue that the U.S. administration considered before Myanmar’s downgrade was alleged government complicity in human trafficking, including its failure to prosecute any civilian officials for their involvement in it, according to the person familiar with the situation. While the Myanmar military is credited with significant progress toward curbing the use of child soldiers, such as allowing international inspections of military bases, there was no indication the problem had been completely eradicated as the U.S. anti-trafficking office had urged, the source said.Human rights groups had lobbied U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry against upgrading Myanmar, saying it would be unearned. The diplomatic blow to Myanmar’s government could be softened by the fact that the TIP report covered efforts during the year ending in March, under the previous administration of former junta general Thein Sein. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, assumed her government role in April, after her party won the country’s first democratic elections in five decades. But with the generals still controlling three security ministries and holding a lock on 25 percent of seats in parliament, U.S. officials grappled with whether a downgrade could undermine cooperation from the military against human trafficking. For her part, Suu Kyi has recently unsettled U.S. officials by calling on them not to use the term “Rohingya” to refer to the Muslim minority in the country’s north. Many in Myanmar refer to them as "Bengalis," insinuating that they are stateless illegal immigrants. The United States has urged Myanmar to treat them as citizens. The 2015 TIP report highlighted that the government's denial of citizenship to an estimated 800,000 men, women and children in Burma -- the majority of them ethnic Rohingya -- "significantly increased this population's vulnerability to trafficking". “The chronic, chronic abuse of the Rohingya has not been dealt with at all,” a U.S. congressional aide said, suggesting support on Capitol Hill for a downgrade this year. (Reuters)

US to place Myanmar on global list of worst offenders in human trafficking