status in the country and were under the protection of UNHCR.16 Based on statistics by the Government of Bangladesh, an estimate of 300,000 – 500,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live in the Bangladesh without receiving protection as refugees.17 These Rohingya are considered to be ‘illegal immigrants’ in Bangladesh.18 Furthermore, between October 2016 and March 2017, 74,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh due to an outbreak of indiscriminate violence against them.19 Bangladesh acknowledged pushing back at least 5,316 of these refugees to Myanmar between 8 October 2015 and 22 January 2017.20 This amounts to a violation of the customary international law principle of non refoulement, according to which, States are prohibited from pushing people back into countries where they face persecution, death or serious harm. 10. Despite Bangladesh supporting recommendations under its previous Universal Periodic Review to provide UNHCR access to all Rohingya refugees in the country, it has not taken positive action on this, contributing to the extreme poverty and vulnerability of the estimated 300,000 – 500,000 refugees who have lived in its territory for an extended period of time. These longer term Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, particularly those living outside the UNHCR registered camps, face severe restrictions in relation to their access to basic human rights including, but not limited to, the right to work, healthcare, education, freedom of movement and access to justice.21 Human rights groups have called on Bangladesh to ensure that these refugees have access to basic protection, however, Bangladesh has to-date, failed to protect, respect and fulfill their basic rights. Significantly, Bangladesh has not allowed the UN to negotiate resettlement of Rohingya refugees from its territory during this period, thereby denying protection elsewhere, to Rohingya refugees who have also been denied protection in Bangladesh.22 11. One of the key concerns has been the vulnerability of these Rohingya refugees (and of Bangladeshi citizens as well) to being smuggled and trafficked out of Bangladesh, in extremely harsh conditions and on unsafe boats to Southeast Asia. A UNHCR study published in May 2017, estimates that approximately 112,500 Rohingya refugees as well as significant numbers of Bangladeshi’s made the hazardous journey to Malaysia (and beyond) between 2012 and 2015.23 There were many fatal disasters recorded during this period. For example, in May 2015, over 1,000 refugees died at sea amidst push backs from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.24 While Bangladesh is not responsible for the push-backs by third countries, it’s failure to crack down on the trafficking industry placed thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi lives at risk. These included a “growing number of women and girls who undertook this sea journey from 2013 to 2015 (and) were often subjected to child marriage or other exploitative arrangements.”25 New arrivals fleeing Myanmar - August and September 2017 12. Between 25 August 2017 and the time of writing this submission, there has been a massive – hitherto unprecedented – flight of Rohingya refugees fleeing indiscriminate violence by Myanmar armed forces and civilian mobs. The situation in Myanmar has been described as ‘ethnic cleansing’ by the UN High 16 UNHCR, Bangladesh Fact Sheet, March 2017, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/50001ae09.pdf Ibid. 18 Brook Larmer, Without a Home, and Without Hope, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 22 August 2017, available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/08/rohingya-refugees-myanmar-bangladesh/ 19 Supra, note 16. 20 67,000 Rohingyas intruded into Bangladesh: Foreign minister, STAR ONLINE REPORT, 31 January 2017, available at http://www.thedailystar.net/country/67000-rohingyas-intruded-bangladesh-foreign-minister-1353877 21 Daniel Sullivan, Reluctant Refuge: Rohingya Safe but not Secure in Bangladesh, REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL, July 2017, available at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/506c8ea1e4b01d9450dd53f5/t/5966805d2e69cff9b5e410ae/1499889771253/2017.7.10Ba ngladesh.pdf 22 See Krishna N Das, Reuters, U.N. wants to negotiate with U.S., Canada to resettle Rohingya refugees, 16 February 2017, available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh/u-n-wants-to-negotiate-with-u-s-canada-to-resettlerohingya-refugees-idUSKBN15V1OJ 23 See UNHCR, Mixed movements in Southeast Asia, 2016, available at: https://unhcr.atavist.com/mm2016 24 See http://www.institutesi.org/stateless_bulletin_2015-05.pdf 25 UNHCR, Mixed movements in Southeast Asia, 2016, available at: https://unhcr.atavist.com/mm2016 17 4