Nearly 20,000 members of the stateless minority, who fled neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 after a brutal military crackdown, have already been sent to Bhashan Char island.
Bangladesh eventually wants to rehouse 100,000 of its approximately one million Rohingya refugees to the island, moving them from cramped relief camps on the mainland.
But hundreds already sent there have since been arrested in coastal towns after fleeing the island, and dozens died in August after a fishing boat carrying escapees capsized.
ALSO READ THIS: BANGLADESH: HALT FORCED RELOCATION OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES
Another 2,000 Rohingya will nonetheless be transferred this week, the country’s deputy refugee commissioner Moozzem Hossain told AFP, more than six months after the last group was sent there.
“Navy ships will bring them to the island on Thursday,” he added.
The UN refugee agency signed a deal with Bangladesh authorities to provide help and protection to refugees on the island last month.
Hossain told AFP that all relocations were completely voluntary, but several refugees said they were being forced to move there.
“We don’t want to go to Bhashan Char,” a Rohingya woman told AFP by phone, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
