Rights group says the Armed Police Battalion is engaged in extortion, harassment and wrongful arrests of refugees it’s tasked with defending.
An elite Bangladesh police unit is engaged within the “rampant” extortion, harassment and wrongful arrests of the Rohingya refugees it has been tasked with defending, Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleges.
The Armed Police Battalion (APBn) operates in camps housing almost a million members of the stateless minority, most of whom fled neighbouring Myanmar after a navy crackdown that’s now the topic of a genocide investigation by the United Nations.
Refugees and humanitarian employees instructed the New York-based human rights watchdog that security had deteriorated after the unit took cost of camp safety in 2020. In a report outlining police conduct and launched by HRW on Tuesday, some Rohingya stated abuses had grow to be “an everyday incidence”.
“Abuses by police within the Cox’s Bazar camps have left Rohingya refugees struggling by the hands of the very forces who’re supposed to guard them,” HRW Asia researcher Shayna Bauchner stated.
The rights group stated it had spoken to dozens of Rohingya refugees residing within the sprawling and overcrowded camp community in southeastern Bangladesh and documented a minimum of 16 instances of significant abuse by battalion officers.
Police demanded hefty bribes and threatened refugees with arrest if they didn’t pay, HRW’s report stated, including that households have been typically compelled to promote gold jewelry or borrow cash to free unjustly detained kin.
“Police typically demanded 10,000-40,000 taka ($100-$400) to keep away from arrest, and 50,000-100,000 taka ($500-$1,000) for the discharge of a detained member of the family,” the report stated.
Bauchner referred to as on authorities to analyze the accusations and maintain accountable officers to account.
Battalion commander Syed Harunor Rashid stated the HRW report was “questionable”.
“Criminals are telling them false info, and [Human Rights Watch workers] are reporting them. That is like giving consolation to criminals,” he instructed the AFP information company, including that the unit would examine if it “receives particular complaints”.
Police acknowledge that violence has spiked within the camps, that are dwelling to armed teams and are allegedly used as staging posts for regional drug trafficking networks.
At the least 20 refugees, together with high neighborhood leaders, have been killed by armed teams final yr as a part of a turf struggle within the settlements.
Police extortion ‘an everyday incidence’
A number of Rohingya refugees instructed AFP that police abuses have been “rampant”.
“A number of days in the past, I used to be returning to the camp with my brother’s medical report from a hospital,” Ali Jaker, 20, stated. “APBn officers stopped me on the checkpoint, interrogated me and slapped me.”
Jaker stated they stole the equal of $50 from him. “Then they took my cell phone,” he stated. “They threatened to take motion in opposition to me if I shared the story with anybody.”
Sitara Bibi, 45, referred to as police extortion “an everyday incidence”.
“I needed to pay 3,000 taka [$30] to them throughout my son’s marriage,” she stated. “If we didn’t pay them, the police would file a drug smuggling case in opposition to my son.”
One Rohingya neighborhood chief, talking on the situation of anonymity, instructed AFP that refugees have been compelled to pay police to journey between camps or to achieve entrance to camps late at evening.
“If anybody protests these abuses, he’s arrested,” the chief stated.
