another one called him an effing idiot to me. you know, they really didn t like mohib. unhcr has an explicit remit to protect refugees and it asks donor governments to provide $32 million a year in order to fund its protection programme. i had a conversation with unhcr after mohib s murder where i said, you know, this is going to have a chilling effect on human rights activists within the rohingya community, that mohib had these protection risks that went unmet. and the unhcr protection person said to me, point blank, well, if speaking out on these issues causes protection risks, then they should stop speaking out about these issues. the gang most often accused of committing violence in the camps is the arakan rohingya salvation army, better known as arsa.
refugees have been killed in the last five years. like mohib, many of them were community leaders and activists who opposed the gangs activities. the bangladeshi government allows unhcr to run one secure camp where a limited number of refugees can live under guard. unhcr has also resettled a handful of vulnerable rohingya to third countries, though few foreign governments participate in this programme. yet we ve verified at least four other cases where rohingya community leaders with credible death threats against them were murdered or attacked after their appeals to unhcr went unanswered. it s a story we hear again and again.
taher is not the only one who s been ignored by unhcr. my name is mohib ullah. i m a rohingya genocide survivor. mohib ullah is one of the most famous rohingya activists. he was a teacher back in myanmar but emerged as a community leader after arriving in bangladesh. he set up a human rights organisation and also campaigned for the rohingyas safe return to myanmar. mohib s lawyer, eva buzo, says his pursuit of international justice posed a threat to the armed gangs operating in the camps.
you know, there is a dominance of armed groups and these actors who want to achieve their political goals through violent means, and mohib was the antithesis of that. he was shot dead in september 2021. it was a major blow to the rohingya community with tens of thousands coming out for his funeral. mohib knew the gangs were planning to kill him, so he wrote to unhcr asking for protection, but no measures were put in place. i would describe unhcr s attitude as indifferent. they always did what they could to discredit him and say, who does he think he is? he s just a teacher. one protection officer described him as a malicious character to me.
another one called him an effing idiot to me. you know, they really didn t like mohib. unhcr has an explicit remit to protect refugees and it asks donor governments to provide $32 million a year in order to fund its protection programme. i had a conversation with unhcr after mohib s murder where i said, you know, this is going to have a chilling effect on human rights activists within the rohingya community, that mohib had these protection risks that went unmet. and the unhcr protection person said to me, point blank, well, if speaking out on these issues causes protection risks, then they should stop speaking out about these issues.