(Bangkok) – Bangladeshi authorities should allow Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar to obtain protection and humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said today. An estimated 18,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in recent months to escape abuses amid the surging fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and the ethnic Arakan Army, while another 10,000 are reportedly waiting at the border. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces have pushed back thousands of Rohingya since early August 2024.
On September 23, Bangladeshi security forces arrested an estimated 100 Rohingya refugees in a raid on shelters where new arrivals were staying, as well as about 30 who were crossing the Naf River. They forcibly returned the refugees to Myanmar the following day, saying they were acting under orders.
“Bangladeshi authorities need to allow Rohingya fleeing renewed attacks in Myanmar to enter the country and ensure that they receive protection and aid,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The recent arrivals are in urgent need of food and medicine but are afraid that seeking assistance will put them at risk of being forcibly returned to Myanmar.”
Human Rights Watch in August and September 2024 interviewed 10 Rohingya who recently entered Bangladesh, as well as humanitarian workers and Bangladeshi border authorities. Refugees described being denied entry by border guard officers, 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 health care and at constant risk of being forcibly returned to Myanmar. Bangladeshi authorities should urgently collaborate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register new Rohingya refugees.
In recent months, the Myanmar military and Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson, and unlawful recruitment against Rohingya in Rakhine State. About 630,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar under a system of apartheid that leaves them especially 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 as overcrowded boats capsized. On September 23, most of the 18 passengers on a boat reportedly drowned after it capsized in the Naf River.
Bangladesh already hosts about one million Rohingya refugees and authorities say that the country is not able to accept any more. Muhammad Yunus, who is leading the interim government, has called on donors and international partners to fast-track third-country settlement and increase humanitarian assistance.
While Yunus has acknowledged that sending Rohingya back to Myanmar means “pushing them to death,” the BGB has ramped up forced returns since the escalation of fighting in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw township in early August. The border guards have set up at least one new site in the Teknaf border region to detain refugees slated for return. A Bangladeshi border guard official told Human Rights Watch they had pushed back 6,000 Rohingya since August 5.
Border guard forces have also reportedly detained unaccompanied children and returned them to Myanmar. Bangladesh should engage the UNHCR to assist in the urgent identification and reunification of families, Human Rights Watch said.
Bangladesh is obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone 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 codified in the UN Convention against Torture, to which Bangladesh is a party, and in customary international law.
Rohingya refugees told Human Rights Watch that smugglers demanded everything in their possession, even spare clothing, as payment to take them to Bangladesh. A refugee from Maungdaw said that in August, Bangladeshi border guards provided him and four family members with food and water but refused their boat entry. He paid Bangladeshi smugglers with his wife’s gold jewelry, who then brought them across the border by bribing the border guards. “It’s a business for them,” he said. “When we are living in between death and life.” There were also reports of smugglers, after being paid, abandoning Rohingya before reaching Bangladesh’s mainland.
Many recent arrivals are sheltering with relatives, often hiding out due to fear of forced return or harassment at checkpoints. “We are hiding and unable to leave the shelter,” said a 28-year-old Rohingya man who entered Bangladesh in July along with six family members. “Security forces have already set up multiple checkpoints and have said that no new Rohingya refugees will be allowed in 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 that the government had not decided whether to register recent arrivals: “If we decide to register them, it could open the floodgates, and that’s something we can’t afford. But at the same time, how long can we ignore this issue?”
A humanitarian worker said that some newly arrived Rohingya have been denied access to health services due to lack of documentation, despite aid agencies’ policies that all refugees should be granted access to medical care, regardless of registration status.
Unregistered refugees said that they were too fearful to seek health care for illnesses or injuries. A man who arrived in early August said that when his 6-month-old son became sick, the family was unable to obtain adequate medical care “because we are not registered, and instead had to go to a quack doctor.” A 53-year-old Rohingya woman said that she had to consult an expensive private physician when she was ill. “I didn’t try to go to the NGO-run hospitals because I heard that they don’t allow anyone without a refugee medical record book, which I don’t have,” she said.
New arrivals also expressed fear that armed groups or criminal gangs would abduct or extort them. Violence in the camps has surged, with groups like 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 a lot of trouble and difficulties in Myanmar due to the fighting among the Arakan Army, military, RSO, ARSA, and the Arakan Rohingya Army, which eventually forced us to flee to Bangladesh. But there are turf wars between Rohingya armed groups inside the camp, so we still have to worry about our safety and live in constant fear of being recruited by these armed groups.”
Humanitarian workers said that as the Arakan Army has been expanding its control over Rakhine State, the Rohingya armed groups that had backed the Myanmar military are returning to the refugee camps, where they are fighting for control.
Bangladeshi authorities should work with the 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, United Kingdom, European Union, and Australia, should increase funding to meet the massive needs of the refugee population to help Bangladesh support the Rohingya and host communities.
The UN Security Council should adopt measures to prevent further atrocities in Rakhine State and make progress toward durable solutions for the Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said. The council should end its inaction in the face of anticipated vetoes by China and Russia and negotiate a resolution to institute a global arms embargo on Myanmar, refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, and impose targeted sanctions on the junta and military-owned conglomerates.
“International will to press for a rights-respecting government in Myanmar is crucial for a lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis,” Ganguly said. “Instead of quiet diplomacy that achieves little, governments need to coordinate and adopt strong measures to place real pressure on the junta to end its abuses.”
