Human Rights Watch urge to end restriction of movement and communication in the Rohingya camps

On Saturday, the Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams stated that Bangladesh shouldn’t restraint Rohingya refugees with intensified restrictions. He said, “Bangladesh authorities have a major challenge in dealing with such a large number of refugees, but they have made matters worse by imposing restrictions on refugee communications and freedom of movement.” “The authorities should take a level-headed approach instead of overreacting to tensions and protests by isolating Rohingya refugees in camps,” he added.

After a mass assemble of Rohingyas on 25th August in Refugee camps, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered telecommunication operators to shut down mobile phone services in the camps within seven days. The next day, the BTRC ordered mobile network operators to shut down 3G and 4G services in the camps each day between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Also on 4th September, Bangladesh’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense recommended building a security fence around the camps. A standing committee member, Muhammad Faruk Khan, said: “We have been observing the Rohingyas are freely moving around the camps and outside. Therefore, to ensure security we recommended taking measures so that no one can come out of the camps and no one can enter inside the camps.”

One Rohingya activist told Human Rights Watch that previously, refugees would be eager to help police provide security in the camps. “But now the protectors are turning cruel just because we gathered on August 25,” he said. “Some of our people are being interrogated by (intelligence) agencies continuously regarding that gathering. But we gathered there with intention to call the Myanmar government to sit with us, not to make the Bangladesh government anxious.”

Brad Adams also suggested that, “Bangladesh authorities and the local community are understandably frustrated that there is no end in sight to the Rohingya refugee crisis. But they should direct their ire at the Myanmar army and government, which caused the problem, instead of taking it out on refugees.”