Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Thursday that allegations made by the NGO Human Right Watch (HRW) against the Armed Police Battalion Bangladesh (APBn) about harassment and abuse of Rohingya refugees are «not based on facts».
«Rohingyas commit killings in the camps and APBn officers have been deployed there to do routine work. What Human Rights Watch says is not based on facts,» Khan explained, adding that the NGO should «gather more information» on the current situation, as reported by ‘The Daily Star’.
These words come after HRW Asia researcher Shayna Bauchner said in a statement that abuses committed by police in Cox’s Bazar camps «have left Rohingya refugees suffering at the hands of the very forces that are supposed to protect them.»
«Bangladeshi authorities must immediately investigate allegations of widespread extortion and unjust detention by officers of the Armed Police Battalion and hold all those responsible to account,» Bauchner called for.
The Armed Police Battalion took over security in the Rohingya camps in July 2020. Refugees and aid workers report that security has deteriorated under APBn supervision due to increased police abuses and criminal activity. In addition, some refugees allege collusion between APBn officials and armed groups and gangs operating in the camps.
The APBn crackdown has exacerbated fear and vulnerability among the one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, most of whom fled Burma’s military atrocities in late 2017. Police abuses have intensified amid increasingly coercive restrictions on livelihoods, movement and education in the camps, including harassment at checkpoints and the closure of schools and community markets, according to HRW.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
