A/HRC/60/20 Following their release, individuals recalled horrific detention conditions, with overcrowding and the presence of minors among the detained adult population as further key concerns. 48. On 8 December 2024 in Ka Nyin Tan village, after the last battle before taking Maungdaw, the Arakan Army captured several soldiers and Rohingya recruits and reportedly burned them alive. Satellite images corroborated the presence of fire at the location as described. 19 According to the interviewee, over 50 Rohingya hors de combat were subsequently moved to a nearby school, where they were reportedly beaten severely before being executed. Bodies were allegedly piled up and abandoned in a roadside drain nearby. No information is available about the fate of the soldiers. 49. Heightened protection concerns and soaring humanitarian needs were exacerbated by repeated instances of displacement and critically contributed to the deterioration of the human rights situation. Due to military-imposed restrictions aimed at preventing deliveries of food and other items to Rakhine State, Rohingya were also affected by food insecurity and hunger, and forced to survive in the absence of any support other than within the Rohingya community. Reports were received of deaths resulting from a lack of food, medicine and drinking water. While warnings on possible risks of famine have not been realized, 20 many Rohingya in camps and in northern Rakhine State continued to face emergency levels of food insecurity requiring immediate attention and assistance. Inadequate living conditions and a lack of access to healthcare resulted in the spread of skin infections and transferable diseases, including scabies, diarrhoea, hepatitis and malaria. In camps in Sittwe, the situation worsened due to acute shortages of food and medicine, high inflation, a lack of livelihood opportunities and insufficient humanitarian assistance compared to the actual needs. Accounts were also received of attempted suicides alongside reports of other harmful coping strategies, such as limiting daily food intake and accepting poor working conditions, reflecting the profound desperation of Rohingya civilians. 50. Although the Arakan Army stated to OHCHR that it “treats all communities equally under the same policy”, restrictions on the rights and freedoms of Rohingya imposed by previous Governments remained in place. Like the military, the Arakan Army persisted in denying the Rohingya identity by referring to them as “Bengalis” or “muslims”. OHCHR has documented continued restrictions on movements, including the imposition of night curfews, with a negative effect on religious practices, livelihood opportunities, such as limiting fishing licences and imposing exorbitant fees for letters of permission from administrators to leave villages, and communication, including through surveillance and the seizures of phones. Interviewees in northern Rakhine State said that Rohingya were only permitted to use vendor-owned phones to make calls, with the vendors required to provide recordings of calls to the Arakan Army. 51. Those desperate conditions and the persistent state of fear and insecurity continued to compel Rohingya to attempt to flee abroad, often with tragic results. Hundreds of Rohingya, if not thousands, left Pauktaw and Kyauktaw in 2025, quite possibly trying to reach Malaysia or Thailand. On 12 February 2025, in Ye Township, Mon State, the military opened fire on a boat carrying Rohingya, killing six people. Their bodies were found ashore the following morning. Rohingya travelling on foot to Bangladesh are at risk of becoming victims of shootings, drone attacks, landmines, unexploded ordnance and trafficking in persons. Rohingya in Bangladesh reported having had to pay fees of up to 2.5 million kyats (approximately $1,200) to Arakan Army personnel and to smugglers associated with them to flee. While United Nations figures estimate that 118,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since November 2023,21 local sources indicated that the numbers may be twice as high. 52. Departures at sea, including from Bangladesh, continued to result in tragic Rohingya deaths. United Nations figures indicate that at least 9,000 individuals attempted to flee Myanmar by boat in 2024, more than doubling the 2023 figure, and that 650 were reported dead or missing,22 evoking the 2015 Andaman crisis.23 Between 3 and 5 January, some 460 19 See https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:2024-12-08;@92.37,20.82,14.00z. See https://www.undp.org/asia-pacific/publications/rakhine-a-famine-in-the-making. 21 See https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/116480 (accessed on 19 May 2025). 22 See https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/114965. 23 See https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/05/26/10-years-rohingya-refugees-stranded-sea. 20 11