Summary 12 However, one senior ARSA leader, whom Fortify Rights interviewed in preparing this report, admitted ARSA’s involvement in killings, rape, abductions, extortion, and other abuses against Rohingya refugees. He claimed the group investigated and punished those responsible and had stopped such abuses, though he provided no evidence of such investigations or punishments. He told Fortify Rights: [Some ARSA leaders] would extort our people when they were in [positions of leadership within] ARSA. They extorted, killed, and abused. When we senior commanders got reports of misconduct in the organization, we investigated it. We punished those who committed these crimes. They kidnapped, they raped, they killed people, and we found out about it and removed them. Since September 2021, Fortify Rights has interviewed 116 individuals about the abuses of armed Rohingya militant groups in Bangladesh. Those interviews form the basis of this report. Those who spoke with Fortify Rights include Rohingya refugees, U.N. officials, humanitarian aid workers, current and former members of ARSA, RSO, and the now-defunct Rohingya Patriotic Front. ARSA was first known as Harakh al Yaqin, meaning “Faith Movement,” which attacked three outposts of the Myanmar Police Force in Maungdaw Township in Myanmar in October 2016, reportedly killing nine police. It later rebranded itself as ARSA and purports to lead an ethno-nationalist fight for the rights of Rohingya. The RSO is one of the oldest Rohingya armed groups, but after a decades-long hiatus, it began vying for power with ARSA following the 2021 military coup d’état in Myanmar, claiming lives. For years, both ARSA and RSO engaged in armed conflict in Myanmar and Bangladesh. However, according to interviews with members of the groups, their allegiances have shifted from opposing the Myanmar military to allying with the Myanmar junta to counter the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group increasingly involved in committing abuses against Rohingya civilians. Despite opening its border to upwards of one million refugees and its laudable efforts to ensure perpetrators of genocide in Myanmar are held accountable at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Government of Bangladesh has forcibly confined Rohingya refugees to overcrowded and under-resourced camps, severely restricting their movement within Bangladesh. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government’s decision to deny the Rohingya refugees the right to freedom of movement has had pernicious effects. The misguided policies have created a perfect storm of desperate conditions for the rise of criminal activity and militancy in the camps as Rohingya search for a means of survival and to assert agency over their situation. The new interim Government of Bangladesh should replace these problematic policies with policies that uphold refugee rights. In addition to the previous Government of Bangladesh’s failures in protecting refugees from militant rule and violence, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)— the U.N. agency mandated to protect refugees—has likewise been slow to respond to threats by militants against refugees. Notably, Bangladesh authorities under the previous administration severely restricted UNHCR’s activities. While the U.N. refugee agency has and continues to save refugee lives in Bangladesh, the shortcomings and failures of the agency to take appropriate action in situations documented in this report merit further investigation. The protection of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh requires better coordination between the international community and Bangladesh authorities and a greater willingness by the Bangladeshi authorities to allow international agencies to carry out their humanitarian and protection mandates.