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planning to reopen schools in areas under its control. However, Rohingya residents reported
that there are no qualified teachers or adequate learning materials (9).
Rohingya have faced intensifying abuses. The ULA/AA has confiscated numerous
Rohingya-owned homes, shops, and prawn farming lands, while denying the owners’
property rights and in at least some cases making unsubstantiated allegations of links to
Rohingya armed groups. Both the ULA/AA and the SAC have engaged in forced recruitment
and labour of Rohingya civilians, while arbitrary arrests of Rohingya youth and men—
accused of ties to armed groups—have become increasingly common (10).
SAC and ULA/AA have imposed severe movement restrictions and drastically limited access
to food, healthcare, and other essential services, threatening community livelihoods. Since
the military coup in February 2021, SAC has systematically obstructed humanitarian aid
across Myanmar—including in Rakhine State—as a form of collective punishment. Only a
small number of UN agencies are currently allowed to operate, and even then under highly
restrictive conditions (11).
Human Rights Conditions Affecting Rohingya in Neighbouring
Countries
The persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar has led to large-scale displacement across the
region, with the largest hosting countries being Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and
Thailand. While these countries are not parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention and lack
formal refugee protection frameworks, they are bound by principles of customary
international law. However, Rohingya refugees remain in legal limbo and are deprived of
basic human rights.
Bangladesh hosts over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees, primarily within refugee camps in
Cox’s Bazar (12). As one of the most cramped refugee camps in the world, Rohingya
refugees face severe restrictions on mobility, access to health, social services and education.
In recent years, Bangladeshi authorities have destroyed thousands of refugee-run shops,
tightened surveillance through construction of fences, checkpoints and curfews, and banned
Rohingya-led community schools. Since December 2020, approximately 35,000 Rohingya
have been moved to Bhasan Char, described by a refugee child quoted by Human Rights
Watch in 2021 as “an island jail in the middle of the sea” (13). The Government of
Bangladesh has also attempted to advance repatriation plans to Myanmar despite the threats
of persecution, raising serious concerns about potential violations of the principle of nonrefoulement (14).
Role of the International Community
The international community continues to have a critical role in upholding the right to a
nationality and other human rights for Rohingya and other stateless communities in
Myanmar. The co-submitting organisations therefore urge Human Rights Council members
and observers to:
I. Support Rohingya and other stateless communities through rights-based engagement
without conferring legitimacy on any current actor asserting control of Myanmar.
II. Initiate an emergency humanitarian aid platform for Rakhine State and denounce actions
that deny humanitarian support and are used as a tool of persecution of Rohingya and other
stateless communities in Myanmar based on ethnicity, religion or perceived political
affiliation.
III. Demand release of Rohingya who were arbitrarily arrested and detained.
IV. Urge the Arakan Army to stop violations of human rights and humanitarian law against
the Rohingya, including forced labour, forced displacement, coercive enrolment in military
surveillance programs, extortion and arbitrary arrest, and call on both SAC and ULA/AA to
stop forced recruitment on Rohingya and other stateless people in Rakhine State.
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