Last night I was party to an invasion in the Bangladesh refugee camp carried out by Myanmar’s Solidarity Organisation (RSO). It was about 2 am when I got a message to tell me that the terrorists from RSO had infiltrated the camp and were attempting to abduct a young man to serve in their insurgent army. The call came from an anonymous onlooker who happened to be passing as the abduction occurred. The onlooker went into hiding and recorded the events as they took place. He sent the pictures to me and then, on my advice, deleted the images to protect himself. This was one of many incidents occurring at the same time. The RSO enter the camps on a regular basis to force young people into their war. I often receive details of these events. Last night I was witness to one person being stabbed and left bleeding on the ground. Family members get injured or killed trying to protect their children because no one else will protect them. This should be the task of the camp officials, but there is no one that refugees can turn to for protection because the Bangladesh government turn a blind eye to the crimes. It is no secret that the Bangladesh government want to be rid of the refugees and they have in turn poisoned the minds of the population causing them to be complicit in the hostile treatment the refugees are receiving. Last night was not an isolated incident. Every night the terrorists enter the camp either to abduct young boys as new army recruits or to shoot their rivals, the Arakan Army (AA). There are gun battles constantly with innocent people people being injured or killed. The camp residents are living in an environment of absolute terror. Refugee camps are meant to protect people. Clearly this is not the case in Bangladesh. It is well known that the Bangladesh government would like to be rid of the refugees, they didn’t welcome them in the first place, the government had no choice, the refugees crossed into Bangladesh during the uprising and it is illegal to send displaced people back into a war zone. A well know figure and ex-Bangladesh government member referred to the Rohingya as a “cancer”. Hitherto, the general view of the refugees by the Bangladesh population is a negative one. A case of genocide has been lodged in the International Criminal Court (ICC), but the process is slow and has little affect on what is happening on the ground. The Rohingya are dying in camps. If they are not dying of neglect then they are being murdered en-mass. The international community needs to rise up and support the Rohingya’s right to exist in much the same way as they have risen up to support the people Ukraine and Gaza.
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