IV. Legal Framework
60
Non-state armed groups are also bound by international human rights law and customary
international law and are subject to the laws of the country where they operate.307
Right to Life and Security
The right to life and security is enshrined in the UDHR, ICCPR, and CAT, all of which Bangladesh is
a party.308 Article 32 of the Constitution of Bangladesh states: “No person shall be deprived of life or
personal liberty save in accordance with law.”
In addition to the right to life and liberty, Article 3 of the UDHR and Article 9(1) of the ICCPR
guarantee everyone “security of person.”309
Although there is no definition of arbitrary detention, Fact Sheet No. 26 of the Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention set guidelines to identify situations that constitute arbitrary detention. These
include situations where individuals are detained:
Because, having been unable to benefit from the fundamental guarantees of the right to a fair
trial, they have been imprisoned without an arrest warrant and without being charged or tried
by an independent judicial authority, or without access to a lawyer; detainees are sometimes
held incommunicado for several months or years, or even indefinitely.310
In General Comment 35, the U.N. Human Rights Committee further clarified the meaning of the
terms, “security of person,” and “everyone” in the following terms:
Security of person concerns freedom from injury to the body and the mind, or bodily and
mental integrity. … Article 9 guarantees those rights to everyone. “Everyone” includes,
among others, girls and boys, soldiers, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender persons, aliens, refugees and asylum seekers, stateless persons, migrant workers,
persons convicted of crime, and persons who have engaged in terrorist activity.311
Therefore, the right to security of person applies to everyone regardless of their legal status and
country of nationality or residence.312
Bangladesh also acceded to the ICERD. Article 5(b) of the treaty upholds the “right to security of
person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm, whether inflicted by government
officials or by an individual group or institution.”313
Rohingya in Bangladesh have the right to life and security against violence and bodily harm
committed by anyone, including non-state actors, under Bangladesh’s domestic laws. Article 32 of
the Bangladesh Constitution provides that “No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty
save in accordance with law.”314
Members of militant groups have systematically and egregiously violated the rights of Rohingya to
life and security by committing killings, abductions, torture, and other violations against Rohingya
refugees in the camps as documented in this report.
307 Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), General Recommendation No.
35 on Gender-Based Violence against Women, Updating General Recommendation No. 19, U.N. Doc CEDAW/C/GC/35, July 26,
2017, para. 25.
308 See, e.g., ICCPR, Art. 6(1): “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No
one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”
309 UDHR, Art. 3; ICCPR, Art. 9(1).
310 OHCHR, “Fact Sheet No. 26, The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,” February 14, 2024, https://www.ohchr.org/
sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/FactSheet26en.pdf.
311 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 35: Article 9 Liberty and Security of Person, para. 3.
312 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 15: The Position of Aliens Under the Covenant, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, 1999.
313 ICERD, Art. 5.
314 Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 1972, Art. 32.