The Rohingya in the refugee camps in Bangladesh are said to be victims of attacks by the police units tasked with guarding the camps.
According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, the refugees reported on Tuesday about blackmail, arbitrary arrests and other harassment by the special unit, which took over supervision of the camps in July 2020.
The abuse by the Armed Police Battalion has become an additional burden alongside the threat posed by criminal gangs and armed groups operating in the camps, the organization said.
Till Fähnders
Political correspondent for Southeast Asia.
Follow I follow
According to the refugees and aid workers, security in the camps has decreased since the police unit took over.
Some also reported that the police colluded with the gangs.
The Rohingya refugees have suffered abuse from the security forces who are supposed to be protecting them, said Shayna Bauchner of Human Rights Watch Asia.
The authorities should promptly investigate the allegations and investigate widespread cases of extortion and arbitrary arrests by armed police.
International donors should put pressure on Bangladesh's authorities.
Abuses include, according to the report, security forces framing refugees for possession of drugs or weapons and demanding money for their release.
Added to this is the threat posed by gangs and armed groups, who are said to be responsible for the murder of several Rohingya activists.
Around a million members of this Muslim ethnic group live in cramped conditions in the camps near the town of Cox's Bazar, including around 750,000 who fled across the border following a brutal military operation against the Rohingya in Myanmar in 2017.