Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are reportedly going through rampant extortion, harassment and wrongful arrests by an elite police tasked with defending the neighborhood, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has mentioned.
The Armed Police Battalion (APBn) operates in camps housing almost 1 million members of the stateless minority, most of whom fled neighboring Myanmar after a army crackdown that’s now the topic of a U.N. genocide investigation.
But refugees and humanitarian employees advised the New York-based watchdog that security had deteriorated after the unit took cost of camp safety in 2020, with some Rohingya telling the Agence France-Presse (AFP) abuses had turn out to be “a regular occurrence.”
“Abuses by police in the Cox’s Bazar camps have left Rohingya refugees suffering at the hands of the very forces who are supposed to protect them,” mentioned HRW Asia researcher Shayna Bauchner earlier Tuesday.
The rights group mentioned it had spoken to dozens of Rohingya refugees dwelling within the sprawling and overcrowded camp community within the nation’s southeast, documenting no less than 16 circumstances of significant abuse by APBn officers.
Police demanded hefty bribes from refugees below menace of arrest, HRW’s report mentioned, including that households had been typically pressured to promote gold jewellery or borrow cash to free unjustly detained kinfolk.
Bauchner known as on authorities to analyze the claims and maintain accountable officers to account.
Battalion commander Syed Harunor Rashid, nevertheless, mentioned the report was “questionable.”
“Criminals are telling them false facts, and (Human Rights Watch) are reporting them. This is like giving comfort to criminals,” he advised AFP, including that the unit would examine if it “receives specific complaints.”
Police acknowledge that violence has spiked within the camps, that are dwelling to armed teams and are used as staging posts for regional drug trafficking networks.
At least 20 refugees, together with high neighborhood leaders, had been murdered by armed teams final yr as a part of a turf conflict within the settlements.
‘They threatened to take motion’
Several Rohingya refugees advised AFP that police abuses had been “rampant.”
“A few days ago I was returning to the camp with my brother’s medical report from a hospital. The APBn officers stopped me at the checkpoint, interrogated me and slapped me,” mentioned Ali Jaker, 20.
Jaker mentioned they stole the equal of $50 {dollars} from him.
“Then they took my mobile phone. They threatened to take action against me if I shared the story with anyone,” he added.
Sitara Bibi, 45, mentioned police extortion was “a regular occurrence.”
“I had to pay 3,000 taka ($30) to them during my son’s marriage. If we didn’t pay them, the police would file a drug smuggling case against my son,” she added.
One Rohingya civic chief, talking on situation of anonymity, advised AFP that refugees had been pressured to pay the police to journey between camps or to realize entrance to camps late at evening.
“If anyone protests these abuses, he is arrested,” they added.
