Live Correspondent: Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion was committing extortion, arbitrary arrests at Rohingya camps and harassing the Rohingyas who were already facing violence from criminal gangs and armed groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Tuesday.

Donor governments should press the Bangladesh authorities to investigate alleged abuses of the Rohingyas, living in different camps in Cox’s Bazar, and ensure their protection, the report said.

The Armed Police Battalion took over the security charges of the Rohingya camps in July 2020.

Dwellers of the camps and humanitarian workers reported that situation had deteriorated under the supervision of the APBn authorities due to increased police abuses as well as criminal activities.

According to the report, the Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 40 Rohingyas in October and November, 2022 and reviewed police reports, documenting more than 16 cases of serious abuse by APBn officers. These included abuses against 10 Rohingyas who were detained in fabricated cases for trafficking yaba or for violence-related offenses.

According to the report, almost every case Human Rights Watch investigated involved extortion either directly by APBn officers or communicated through the camp community leaders.

The report stated that police generally demanded Tk 10,000 to Tk 40,000 to avoid arrest and Tk 50,000 to Tk 100,000 for the release of a detained family member.

Sayed Hossein (pseudo name), 27, a health volunteer of an international organisation and a citizen journalist, said that on July 25, 2022, APBn officers arrested him at his house and confiscated his laptop and flash drive.

They told him that he was arrested for posting about an incident of an APBn officer harassing innocent Rohingyas on social media.

As his family failed to pay Tk 50,000, the APBn forcibly photographed him with yaba tablets and sent him to the nearby Ukhiya police station, the report said.

Many of the Rohingya victims work for nongovernmental organisations or as teachers. Humanitarian organisations have raised concerns regarding the impact of APBn harassment on their staff and operations.

In late October, the APBn initiated Operation Root Out in response to a spike in targeted killings by armed groups in the Rohingya camps. The police have arrested at least 900 Rohingyas since mid-2022.

Family members of three Rohingyas, arrested during Operation Root Out, said that the cases against their relatives were fabricated, the report said.

‘Abuses by police in the Cox’s Bazar camps have left Rohingyas suffering at the hands of the very forces who are supposed to protect them,’ said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

‘Bangladesh authorities should immediately investigate allegations of widespread extortion and wrongful detention by Armed Police Battalion officers and hold all those responsible to account.’

The Bangladesh authorities should develop and carry out a rights-respecting security policy, in consultation with the Rohingyas to protect the camp population, Human Rights Watch said.

The authorities should consult refugees and humanitarian groups to improve training and monitoring of APBn units operating in the camps, Human Rights Watch said. Each camp should task and train non-APBn personnel to receive complaints against police officers filed by Rohingyas.

Dhaka, 17 January (campuslive24.com)// AZ