An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh This chapter analyses the legal and policy framework that underpins the stay and protection of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It provides an overview of the protection situation of refugees in the camps and examine the risks and challenges that restrict their ability to access their rights and live a life of self-reliance and dignity. It also explores the existing gaps and barriers to effective protection advocacy in achieving protection goals. 3.1 Evolving Legal and Policy Framework for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh 3.1.1 Bangladesh’s obligations under international law Bangladesh is party to the majority of core international human rights instruments (with a few reservations and declarations) such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It has also signed the Convention on the Political Rights of Women and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Bangladesh has not acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol but has been a member of UNHCR’s Executive Committee since 1995.50 Bangladesh is also not party to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and there is no national legislation to address statelessness issues. Bangladesh has upheld the customary international law principle of non-refoulement to a large extent, by providing safety and shelter to Rohingya refugees in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar and committing that Rohingya refugees will only be voluntarily repatriated to Myanmar in safe and dignified conditions. At the same time, Bangladesh does not explicitly acknowledge that the Rohingya are refugees and in practice, there have also been several reported instances of border pushbacks of Rohingya refugees over the years. Their lack of formal legal status as refugees entails protection risks associated with refoulement and denial of refugee rights under international law such as freedom of movement, education and livelihoods, among others. 3.1.2 Bangladesh’s domestic policy framework There is no express domestic legislative framework governing refugees in Bangladesh. Some constitutional and other general legal provisions are applicable to all persons on Bangladeshi territory which may also be extended to refugees. During the first and second phases of Rohingya arrivals in Bangladesh (1978 and 1991-92), the Government of Bangladesh granted prima facie refugee status to Rohingya refugees under executive orders and invited UNHCR to provide support.51 50 UNHCR, ExCom membership by date of admission of members, available at https://www.unhcr.org/en-in/excom/announce/40112e984/excom-membership-date-admission-members.html 51 Nour Mohammad, Protection of International Refugee under the Constitution of Bangladesh, Refugee Watch, Vol 39 (2012), p. 154, available at http://www.mcrg.ac.in/rw%20files/RW39_40/12.pdf ‘A prima facie approach means the recognition by a State or UNHCR of refugee status on the basis of readily apparent, objective circumstances in the country of origin or, in the case of stateless asylum-seekers, their country of former habitual 18 Act for Peace / May 2021