Amnesty International reported Thursday that Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are facing a deteriorating humanitarian situation, and are living under life-threatening conditions due to the absence of essential facilities. The rights group called on the belligerents in Myanmar to abide by international law, and urged the international community to provide more humanitarian support.

Amnesty found that newly arrived Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have no access to essential services such as food, shelter and health care in the refugee camps. The rights group stated that refugees also suffer from insecurity inside the camps because they fear that they could be kidnapped and forced to join one of the fighting forces in their home country.

According to Amnesty International, the intensification of armed attacks has worsened the humanitarian situation of the Rohingya people both in their home country and in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. Amnesty International’s secretary general Agnès Callamard said that the Rohingya are currently “facing persecution on two fronts, from the rebel Arakan Army and the Myanmar military, which is forcibly conscripting Rohingya men.” Callamard explained that both the military and the Arakan Army have been attempting to recruit Rohingya people to fight on their side, leaving the Muslim ethnic group trapped between the two belligerents and subject to abuses from both sides.

The rights group further found that Bangladeshi border authorities forcibly returned Rohingya refugees to their home country, which violated the principle of non-refoulement in international law. Relatedly, a local report in February 2024 revealed that Bangladesh border services repatriated over 300 refugees back to Myanmar.

Amnesty International ultimately called for the referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and emphasized that all parties involved in the conflict must abide by international humanitarian law.

The Rohingya people are a Muslim ethnic group that predominantly live in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Tens of thousands of Rohingya people have fled their country to escape the escalating conflict between local armed groups and the military. The current conflict in Myanmar dates back to 2021 when the country’s military seized power following a coup. The Arakan Army, a local armed group, was consequently formed in Rakhine and has been fighting Myanmar’s military with the aim of promoting the national identity of the Arakanese people and restoring their sovereignty. This conflict plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis and also gave rise to international concerns over the persecution of the Rohingya community.

Hostilities between the military and the Arakan Army escalated in 2023 as the latter expanded its control across Rakhine State’s territory. In response, the military conducted massive checks and indiscriminate air strikes on Rakhine State, killing Rohingya and other ethnic civilians. These attacks prompted the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution halting jet fuel supplies to the Myanmar military. The escalation of the armed clashes also forced thousands of Rohingya people to flee their country and seek refuge in neighboring states, including Indonesia and Bangladesh.