and were held by AA until they met their extortion demands.200 In a separate case, a family who had sought medical treatment in Bangladesh were detained by AA upon their return. They could not meet the AA’s extortion demands and are believed to still be in AA custody.201 However, the AA’s detention of Rohingya returning from Bangladesh is not solely for the purpose of extortion. In May, BROUK received information that 70 Rohingya who had recently returned from Bangladesh were detained by the AA and are currently held in overcrowded conditions at a detention facility in Maungdaw town. At least 20 of the detainees are believed to be children under the age of five. All of the Rohingya detainees are reportedly receiving just one meal of rice per day. They only returned to Maungdaw township because their family members – IDPs recently returned by the AA had secured permission from local AA leaders for them to return from Bangladesh. But they broke their promise and said that more senior AA officers had ordered that the returnees be investigated.202 Forced displacement by the AA The AA’s policies of persecution towards the Rohingya are closely linked to forced displacement carried out by the AA. Following the Arakan Army’s attack on Buthidaung town on 17 May 2024 that displaced tens of thousands of people, BROUK received information that the AA corralled Rohingya IDPs in locations such as Sein Hnyin Pyar, Hpon Nyo Leik, and urban wards of Buthidaung town. A similar pattern unfolded in Maungdaw township later in the year, with Rohingya IDPs corralled in Hla Poe Khaung repatriation camp by the AA, as well as other locations such as Mingalar Gyi and Kyauk Hle Kha village tracts.203 The highly coercive environment created by the AA’s policies of persecution and other human rights violations - alongside the famine created by the regime’s trade blockade and humanitarian restrictions - has forcibly displaced thousands more Rohingya out of Buthidaung township in 2025. In January, a Rohingya man in Buthidaung town told BROUK, “The AA is using a new method of restricting movement and killing without spending bullets, causing the Rohingya from the town to gradually leave for abroad and Bangladesh via Maungdaw township.”204 At the same time, BROUK began to receive multiple reports of the Arakan Army profiteering from the Rohingya’s desperation to flee their campaign of persecution. Only those who are close to the AA and pay bribes to the AA are reportedly allowed to operate as people smuggling groups and human trafficking gangs in both Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.205 Such groups allegedly pay bribes to AA officials at all levels, including the AA regional commander, tax chief, political chief, and area commander. The AA also collects 1 million kyats from each Rohingya who wants to flee and issues them a document with the signature of the AA area commander to allow them to travel through AAcontrolled areas, according to a person from Buthidaung township who paid for the document himself. AA soldiers are also alleged to be directly involved in escorting Rohingya to border areas. People smuggling gangs working with the AA are reported to be involved in taking people by boat from coastal areas of Maungdaw township to Bangladesh. 206 200 BROUK reference ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-PP6. 201 BROUK reference ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-PP3. 202 BROUK reference ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-PP8. 203 BROUK, ‘The Genocide Never Stopped’ op. cit. 36. 204 BROUK reference ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-PP2. 205 The key difference between people smuggling and human trafficking is that the former involves facilitated movement across an international border for profit, while the latter is for the purpose of exploitation such as prostitution, forced labour, slavery, or the removal of organs. While people smuggling may involve deception and/or abusive treatment, the purpose of migrant smuggling is to profit from the movement. On the other hand, human trafficking is about the recruitment, transportation, or transfer of persons by force or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of exploitation. See OHCHR, ‘Fact Sheet No. 36: Human Rights and Human Trafficking’ (2014). 206 BROUK references ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-FD1, ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-FD2, ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-FD1. 35