The NGO Human Right Watch (HRW) has alleged that the Armed Police Battalion of Bangladesh (APBn) is extorting, arbitrarily detaining and harassing Rohingya refugees and has pressed the international community to investigate alleged abuses against this minority in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp.
«Police abuses in Cox’s Bazar camps have left Rohingya refugees suffering at the hands of the very forces that are supposed to protect them,» said HRW Asia researcher Shayna Bauchner.
«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 said.
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 the organization.
Refugees also face threats due to the growing presence of armed groups and gangs. Bangladeshi authorities must develop and implement a rights-respecting security policy, in consultation with refugees, to protect the camp population, according to the NGO.
HRW has therefore called on the authorities to consult with refugees and humanitarian groups to improve «training and monitoring» of the APBn units operating in the camps. According to the organization, each camp should commission and train non-APBn personnel to receive complaints against police lodged by refugees.
«The U.S., U.K. and other donors should support projects to promote the safety and protection of Rohingya refugees, while putting pressure on Bangladeshi authorities to stop police abuses in the camps,» said Bauchner.
«Bangladesh should do what Burma has never done: hold those responsible for abuses against the Rohingya accountable,» he added.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
