Bangladesh: End Rohingya Refugee Pushbacks

(COX’S BAZAR, November 19, 2024)–The Interim Government of Bangladesh should immediately stop the forced return of Rohingya fleeing deadly violence and ongoing genocide in Rakhine State, Myanmar, Fortify Rights said today. A new investigation by Fortify Rights documents how the Bangladesh border guard forces continue to push Rohingya back to Myanmar.

“Bangladesh’s interim government has promised to turn a new page for the country and respect human rights after a decade of brutal abuses under Sheikh Hasina’s government,” said Zaw Win, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. “The interim government’s commitment to human rights should include protecting the rights of Rohingya who are fleeing genocidal violence in Myanmar. Bangladesh should allow Rohingya to cross safely into Bangladesh and formally recognize their rights as refugees.”

Between August and October 2024, Fortify Rights interviewed 12 Rohingya survivors from Maungdaw Township who fled ongoing atrocities in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The investigation revealed six separate incidents where Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces forcibly returned to Myanmar more than 400 Rohingya refugees since August 2024. The total number of pushbacks is likely much higher.

“We have also made it clear to UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]—it is not possible for us [to take more Rohingya],” the interim government’s Foreign Advisor, Mohammad Touhid Hossain—effectively the foreign minister—stated at a September 8, 2024 press conference.

A 25-year-old Rohingya woman was among a group of 100 Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh to escape drone and artillery strikes on August 5 by the Arakan Army (AA)—an ethnic armed group fighting the Myanmar junta. The attack killed more than 100 Rohingya women, men, and children in Myanmar’s Maungdaw Township.

“We boarded the boat after 10 p.m. on August 5,” She told Fortify Rights, describing how she escaped the attack by the AA. “I had to leave my husband behind and flee to Bangladesh as we couldn’t stay long due to the bombing.”

Continuing, she described being returned to Myanmar by the BGB. She said:

The Bangladesh border guards caught and detained us. After taking the photographs of us, we were taken to the [BGB] camp. On August 7, we were boarded onto a boat to be sent back to Myanmar. We were about 100 people in two boats when we were pushed back to Myanmar. … We all shouted at them, saying we wouldn’t go back to Myanmar. The BGB also told us they would shoot if we came back to Bangladesh again.

Another Rohingya woman, 27, from Maungdaw Township who escaped the same attack on August 5 similarly described the pushback operation by the BGB, saying:

The boat we boarded was big. About 30 of us were on each boat. I saw three boats there [on the river]. Four BGB members accompanied us to the Teknaf jetty… [T]hey told all of us, “There is no place here for you to live, even if you are dying in your country.” They didn’t let us stay for one day, although we begged them to let us stay because we were injured and exhausted.

In another incident, a pregnant Rohingya woman told Fortify Rights how the BGB turned her and her husband away together with a group of other Rohingya on September 21, 2024, despite her need for medical care. She said: “They forcibly boarded the people onto the boat, even though the people were shouting and crying not to be sent back to Myanmar.”

She also described how the BGB threatened them, saying:

[The BGB] hit my husband two or three times on his cheek. I was lying on my husband’s lap since I was extremely weak when the BGB hit him. They threatened to shoot at us if we talked back at them. I heard them speaking in the Bangla language. They also told us that they would kill us and throw us into the [Naf] river. … They insulted us, calling us “Burmese sons of bitches.”

The Bangladeshi crew of the boat also robbed the returning refugees of their belongings.

In a more recent incident, an 18-year-old Rohingya refugee described how the BGB transported him and others to the Teknaf jetty and forced them onto boats back to Myanmar. He said:

The vehicle that carried us to the Teknaf jetty was like a bus. Eight to ten BGB members escorted us. We pleaded many times with the BGB not to push us back, saying, “Sir, we have faced many obstacles and paid a lot of money to come here and survive.” However, they were not convinced to release us. We were crying as we had no other way out.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh also described living in fear of being forcibly returned to Myanmar.

“As [my family and I] are not registered in the [refugee] camp, we are afraid to move outside,” a 30-year-old Rohingya man who arrived to Bangladesh in September told Fortify Rights. “We fear the police might catch us if they find us outside the camp. … [O]ur main fear is being sent back to Myanmar. We escaped Myanmar to survive. … How long can we live in the houses of other people?”

Pushbacks by the BGB are not new to Rohingya refugees. In April 2024, Fortify Rights documented how the BGB under the now-deposed government of Sheikh Hasina forcibly returned Rohingya refugees.

Although the head of the interim government, Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, has acknowledged the severe consequences for Rohingya who are returned, telling the media outlet Deutsche Welle, “Pushing [Rohingya] back means we are pushing them to death,” pushbacks continue under his government.

“The Bangladesh government has a responsibility to provide safety and security to Rohingya survivors who are fleeing for their lives and facing mass atrocities in Myanmar,” said Zaw Win. “Rohingya have a right to live with dignity and respect as recognized refugees in Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh is a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which explicitly protects refugees from refoulement  or forced return “to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that [they] would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” The principle of non-refoulement is legally binding on all states under customary international law.

Bangladesh hosts more than one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. In 2016 and 2017, the Myanmar Army led a genocidal campaign of massacres, mass rape, and mass arson, forcibly deporting more than 700,000 Rohingya men, women, and children to Bangladesh. In addition to ongoing genocidal violence in Myanmar, Rohingya civilians also face indiscriminate attacks and other war crimes committed by both the Myanmar military junta and the AA.

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