Bangladesh: New Rohingya refugees lack protection and aid

(Bangkok) – Bangladeshi authorities should provide protection and humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar, Human Rights Watch said today. An estimated 18,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in recent months to escape abuses amid escalating fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and the ethnic Arakan Army, with another 10,000 reportedly waiting at the border. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops have pushed back thousands of Rohingya since early August 2024.

On September 23, Bangladeshi security forces arrested an estimated 100 Rohingya refugees during a raid on reception centers housing new arrivals, and about 30 who were crossing the Naf River. They forcibly returned the refugees to Myanmar the next day, saying they were acting on orders.

“Authorities in Bangladesh should allow Rohingya fleeing renewed attacks in Myanmar to enter the country and ensure they receive protection and assistance,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The recent arrivals are in urgent need of food and medicine but fear that seeking help could put them at risk of being forcibly returned to Myanmar.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 Rohingya who recently entered Bangladesh in August and September 2024, as well as humanitarian workers and Bangladeshi border officials. Refugees described being denied entry by border guards, forcing them to turn to smugglers to escape threats to their lives and safety in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

Bangladesh has not registered any new arrivals, leaving them without access to food rations and healthcare, and at constant risk of being forcibly returned to Myanmar. Bangladeshi authorities must urgently work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register new Rohingya refugees.

In recent months, the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson and illegal recruitment against Rohingya in Rakhine State. About 630,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar under an apartheid system that makes them particularly vulnerable to renewed fighting. The conflict has displaced more than 320,000 people in Rakhine State and southern Chin State since hostilities resumed in November 2023. Dozens of Rohingya have drowned while fleeing when overcrowded boats capsized. On September 23, most of the 18 passengers on a boat reportedly drowned after it capsized in the Naf River.

Bangladesh is already home to about a million Rohingya refugees and authorities say the country cannot accept any more. Muhammad Yunus, who heads the interim government, has called on donors and international partners to speed up the resettlement of third countries and increase humanitarian aid.

While Yunus has acknowledged that sending Rohingya back to Myanmar would mean “sending them to their deaths,” the BGB has stepped up forced returns since fighting escalated in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw township in early August. Border guards have set up at least one new site in the Teknaf border region to hold refugees eligible for return. A Bangladeshi border guard official told Human Rights Watch that they have sent back 6,000 Rohingya since August 5.

Border guards have also reportedly detained unaccompanied children and returned them to Myanmar. Bangladesh should call on the UNHCR to assist with urgent family identification and reunification, Human Rights Watch said.

Bangladesh is obliged to respect the international law principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from returning someone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious ill-treatment, or a threat to life. This principle is enshrined in the UN Convention against Torture, to which Bangladesh is a party, and in customary law.

Rohingya refugees told Human Rights Watch that smugglers demanded anything in their possession, even spare clothes, as payment to take them to Bangladesh. refugee Maungdaw said that in August, Bangladeshi border guards provided him and four family members with food and water but refused to let their boat in. He paid Bangladeshi smugglers with his wife’s gold jewelry, who then bribed the border guards to bring them across the border. “It’s a business for them,” he said. “While we are between life and death.” There were also reports of smugglers, after being paid, abandoning Rohingya before they reached mainland Bangladesh.

Many recent arrivals are sheltering with relatives, often out of fear of forced return or harassment at checkpoints. “We are hiding and cannot leave the shelter,” said a 28-year-old Rohingya man who entered Bangladesh with six relatives in July. “Security forces have already set up multiple checkpoints and have said that no new Rohingya refugees will be allowed into the camps. We are hungry and desperate because the UN agencies have not included us in their database or provided food rations.”

A Bangladeshi foreign ministry official told Reuters the government had not yet decided whether to register recent arrivals: “If we decide to register them, it could open the floodgates, and that is something we cannot afford. But at the same time, how long can we ignore this problem?”

A humanitarian worker said some newly arrived Rohingya are unable to access health care due to a lack of documentation, despite aid agency policies that all refugees should have access to medical care regardless of their registration status.

Unregistered refugees said they were too afraid to seek medical care for illnesses or injuries. One man who arrived in early August said that when his 6-month-old son fell ill, the family could not get adequate medical care “because we are not registered, and had to go to a quack instead.” A 53-year-old Rohingya woman said she had to see an expensive private doctor when she fell ill. “I didn’t try to go to the NGO-run hospitals because I heard they don’t let anyone in without a refugee medical record, which I don’t have,” she said.

New arrivals also expressed fears that armed groups or criminal gangs would kidnap or extort them. Violence in the camps has increased, with groups such as the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) carrying out killings, kidnappings, forced recruitment and robberies.

A 24-year-old Rohingya man said: “We faced many problems and difficulties in Myanmar due to the fighting between the Arakan Army, the army, RSO, ARSA and the Arakan Rohingya Army, which eventually forced us to flee to Bangladesh. But there are turf wars between armed Rohingya groups in the camp, so we still have to worry about our safety and live in constant fear of being recruited by these armed groups.”

Aid workers said that as the Arakan Army expands its control over Rakhine state, Rohingya armed groups that supported the Myanmar military are returning to refugee camps, where they are fighting for control.

Bangladeshi authorities should work with UNHCR to register new refugees so they can safely access medical care, food rations and protection services, Human Rights Watch said. Critical health services should be provided to all new arrivals without any documentation requirements. Donors, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia, should increase funding to meet the enormous needs of the refugee population to help Bangladesh support the Rohingya and host communities.

The UN Security Council should take action to prevent further atrocities in Rakhine State and make progress toward lasting solutions for the Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said. The council should end its inaction in the face of expected vetoes from China and Russia and negotiate a resolution to impose a global arms embargo on Myanmar, refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, and impose targeted sanctions on the junta and military conglomerates.

“International will to push for a government that respects Myanmar’s rights is crucial to a lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis,” Ganguly said. “Rather than quiet diplomacy that yields little, governments must coordinate and take bold action to put real pressure on the junta to end its abuses.”