[2][3][4] It is located in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, and is inhabited mostly by Rohingya refugees who fled from ethnic and religious persecution in neighboring Myanmar.

[7] The UNHCR Camp office at Kutupalong is supported by seven international entities: the governments of the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan, Finland, Sweden and the Stichting INGKA Foundation.

[23][24][25] In August 2018, Human Rights Watch urged Bangladesh to relocate the camps to sturdier structures, on safer ground in Cox's Bazar.

[29][31][30] Local Bangladeshis have complained of Rohingya from the camps undermining natives' job prospects[32] and becoming involved in criminal activity (particularly illicit drug trade in ya ba, a type of methamphetamine).

[33] Also, authorities have struggled to cope with human traffickers smuggling Rohingya into and out of Bangladesh (particularly by sea),[34] and exploiting women and children for the region's sex trade.

[32][36] By mid-2018—as the burden of hosting nearly a million refugees (mostly at Kutupalong) became increasingly stressful and frustrating to the Bangladesh government and public—they began pushing for repatriation of the Rohingya, back to Myanmar.

Group "shelters," and elevated storm shelters, were built by the government on Bhasan Char—a newly emerged silt island in the Bay of Bengal, 37 miles from the mainland (and over 50 miles from the camps) -- but, again, the Rohingya refused relocation from the camps, citing fears of isolation from society and aid, vulnerability to cyclones (the low island was reported to flood annually, particularly being submerged during storms at high tide), absence of forest and farmland needed for subsistence, and effective imprisonment.

By forbidding sale of cell phone SIM cards to Rohingya, and reducing cellular telephone service from 4G and 3G levels—down to only 2G levels—internet communications to, from, and within the camps became impractical.

[36] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of human-rights and aid organizations warned that the communications blackout would limit refugees' timely access to reliable medical information, advice and assistance, and increase confusion, misinformation, paranoia and panic, and aggravate the spread of the virus within the densely populated camps.

[65] Since the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading globally in early 2020, experts and aid agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson in Bangladesh warned that densely populated refugee camps in and around Cox's Bazar were at risk, especially due to poor sanitation and nutrition predisposing the residents to severe illness.

[66][67] Without high-speed internet to quickly communicate health information or adequate resources to distribute medical care, the camps' five hospitals, with a combined total of 340 beds, were predictably overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases in less than two months, subsequently raising deaths from malaria.

[69][70][71] By March 2022, Bangladeshi authorities further restricted movement between the camp and larger country to reduce transmission, increasing to a complete lockdown throughout Cox's Bazar by the following month, which prevented the entry of 80% of arriving aid workers, such as those returning from travel abroad.

[71][72] These measures were enforced by police and military patrols, leaving the Rohingya refugees with dwindling food supplies, reduced medical assistance, and halted educational/counseling services.

[78] Despite the relatively mild impact of Cyclone Amphan, climatologists warned that Indian Ocean storms had increased in frequency and severity in recent decades.

Though they were rescued by the Bangladesh navy, in early May, the government, rather than return them to the mainland camps from which they had come, instead involuntarily "quarantined" them on Bhashan Char island—ostensibly over the risk that the castaways may have been infected with COVID-19.

[80][81] The same opponents of the Bhasan Char relocation plan urged that the new detainees be returned to their families at the mainland camps as soon as the usual 3-week quarantine period (for COVID-19) was completed.

[78] Government authorities seized on this news to declare that Bhasan Char's had proved its stability under harsh weather conditions, renewing their relocation campaign.

[91] However, in December 2019, the government banned cash aid in the camps, to reduce cash-for-work opportunities—eliminating a rare source of potential income, particularly for women refugees, who had particularly little economic opportunity.

[92][90] In the October 2018 IFPRI survey, children in the camps were not allowed schooling[91] (a situation that authorities have pledged to improve),[93][90] and no training was available to adults, limiting their future prospects.

[91][94][90] The researchers warned that the conditions, if not improved, could turn the camps into sites of "hopelessness, anger or even violence"[91]—a concern echoed by human rights advocates[94] and Rohingya refugees, themselves.