Rohingya civilians are now at greater risk of resorting to dangerous sea crossings to escape from the escalating, armed conflict.58 In this context, WPN has also been informed of the involvement of members of the AA in smuggling Rohingya from Rathedaung township and other areas in northern Rakhine State, by boat, to Southeast Myanmar (on the way to Thailand and Malaysia). Particularly alarming is that the acutely precarious conditions in Rakhine State were not addressed after the landfall of a powerful natural disaster as Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar, which had disproportionately devastated the region in May 2023. Rohingya in the region were excluded from accessing emergency evacuation assistance, including verbal and written disaster warnings that were only provided in Burmese and Rakhine languages.59 They were also denied full access to life-saving humanitarian assistance – food, clean water, healthcare, shelter – at least in part due to the military’s still-required travel authorizations to aid providers attempting to access areas under its control.60 Such negligence of Rohingya lives contributed to the deaths of over 400 of them according to local sources.61 These various administrative blockades, as well as the ongoing, intensifying armed conflict, have further deprived civilians access to essential commodities including food – significantly increasing their prices to the point of yielding conditions of famine and starvation.62 To this day, proper access to humanitarian aid remains denied to all in Rakhine State.63 Therefore, the lack of accountability mechanisms have, in large part, enabled the commission of mass atrocities against Rohingya and exacerbated their conditions in Rakhine State – making the precarious sea crossings an attractive option for their escape. Fueled by such impunity, the growing risk of recurrence of further attacks of genocide in Myanmar will likely force many more Rohingya to flee in boats. Bangladesh: Unsustainable, undignified, and inhuman conditions The increasingly dire humanitarian conditions, insecurity, and lack of protection experienced by one million refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar continue to be key contributing factors 58 “BGB pushes back boat carrying 65 Rohingyas,” Dhaka Tribune, February 7, 2024, https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/foreign-affairs/338780/bgb-pushes-back-boat-carrying-65-rohingyas; “Despite Opposition From Kuki-Zos, Amit Shah Says India Will Fence Entire Northeast Border With Myanmar,” The Wire, February 7, 2024, https://thewire.in/government/despite-opposition-from-kuki-zos-amit-shah-says-india-will-fence-entire-northeast-bor der-with-myanmar. 59 United Nations, General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, A/78/527 (12 October 2023), available from undocs.org/e/A/78/527. 60 Ibid. 61 “Hundreds feared dead after cyclone hits western Myanmar,” Reuters, May 17, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/many-rohingya-muslims-killed-after-cyclone-hit-western-myanmar-resid ents-ngo-2023-05-16/. 62 “High price of essential commodities push Rakhine families to the brink of famine,” Narinjara News, December 22, 2023, https://www.narinjara.com/news/detail/6585cf045ca6405b2709290e; “Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 36,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, March 3, 2024, https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/myanmar-humanitarian-update-no-36-3-march-2024. 63 A/78/527. 14