Abducted from Cox's Bazar camps, Rohingyas conscripted in Myanmar

Abducted from the Cox's Bazar camps, Rohingya refugees have been transported to Myanmar and forced to join the Myanmar junta's military, said human rights group Fortify Rights.

Fortify Rights revealed the information after a new investigation.

Rohingya armed groups in Bangladesh have forcibly recruited approximately more than 1,700 Rohingyas from March to May 2024, said the rights group in a statement yesterday, citing an internal memo by a humanitarian coordination group operating in Bangladesh,

"The abduction and forced conscription of Rohingya may amount to human trafficking and should be urgently addressed," said Ejaz Min Khant of Fortify Rights in a statement yesterday.

Between February and July 2024, Fortify Rights interviewed 23 Rohingya people, including six Rohingya conscripted by the Myanmar military and four abducted Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh who are now in the custody of Myanmar military junta.

Bangladesh hosts more than one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. About 800,000 of them fled to Bangladesh in 2016 and 2017 following a "genocidal campaign" by the Myanmar military, which now faces a severe challenge as democratic forces and ethnic groups are fighting against them since early 2021.

In this scenario, the junta began abducting and forcing Rohingya civilians to undergo military training exercises shortly after the February 2024 announcement of conscription.

Fortify Rights spoke with family members of forcibly conscripted individuals and eyewitnesses to forced conscriptions, two senior leaders of the Rohingya Solidary Organization (RSO) armed group, and a Bangladesh-based humanitarian worker.

Fortify Rights analysed videos and photographs that appear to show Rohingya engaging in military exercises within a military compound in Myanmar. It also analysed five documents issued by the Myanmar junta to implement the illegal conscriptions.

A 17-year-old Rohingya refugee told Fortify Rights that he was abducted on March 1 this year. he said armed men, whom he believed were part of a Rohingya militant group, forcibly took him from a refugee camp in Bangladesh and transported him to Myanmar.

He said, "There were around seven people who came to a café where I was drinking tea. They blindfolded me pointing a gun, tied my arms and legs with a rope, then abducted me from there."

Later, he was taken to the Myo Thu Gyi BGP headquarters in Maungdaw Township in Rakhine of Myanmar. The youth later fled from the training camp and returned to Bangladesh, where he is now in hiding.

"Rohingya survivors of the ongoing genocide committed by the Myanmar military are now being forced to join the ranks of the very actors responsible for committing atrocities against them," said Ejaz Min Khant.

Two senior leaders of Rohingya Solidarity Organization denied their group's involvement in forced recruitment. They said all of their recruitment is based on volunteering and full consent.

Fortify Rights called for Bangladesh authorities need to protect Rohingyas from forced conscription in the camps where they are supposed to be safe, said Ejaz Min Khant.

"The Myanmar junta must immediately end these abuses. Protecting the rights and safety of the Rohingya in Rakhine State and Bangladesh camps should be a global priority."