What Comes After a UN Finding of Enforced Disappearance?
How Bangladesh Responds Will Shape Rohingya Rights
A landmark UN decision has now placed the case of No Man’s Land Rohingya spokesperson Dil Mohammed squarely at the centre of international scrutiny. It forces a series of urgent questions onto the Bangladesh government, the UN system, and Rohingya leadership networks.
Two of my reports - one in The Diplomat, one in DVB English - have now laid out the findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) (See attached PDF file). This post brings those strands together and focuses on what must happen next. His counsel’s chambers, 33 Bedford Row, has also released a detailed note summarising the UN findings and their implications.
For readers who want deeper background on how this crisis unfolded, my Southeast Asia Globe investigation provides a comprehensive account of the destruction of the Zero Point camp, the joint dynamics between Bangladesh and Myanmar, and the circumstances that led to Dil Mohammed’s abduction.
1. What the Working Group has demanded and what Dhaka must now answer
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued four clear instructions to Bangladesh:
Immediately release Dil Mohammed
Provide an enforceable right to compensation and reparations
Conduct a full and independent investigation into his enforced disappearance, prolonged solitary confinement, coercive interrogations, and due-process violations
Disseminate the decision “as widely as possible”
The Group also issued a serious finding: that Bangladesh subjected him to enforced disappearance for roughly four months. It is a sweeping rebuke - the strongest UN statement ever issued on the detention of a Rohingya community leader inside Bangladesh.
Dil Mohammed’s situation today underlines the urgency. On 22 October, he was abruptly transferred from Bandarban Jail to Cumilla Jail, where conditions are reported to be harsh. According to his family, he is shackled inside his cell and held with one other prisoner. This is a reminder that the violations identified by the UN are not merely historical but ongoing.
I have asked Yunus’ press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, for comment on the WGAD ruling. I will update readers if and when he responds.
The central question now is simple:
Will Bangladesh comply - or will it defy the UN ruling?
2. The Special Rapporteur’s role and a tight deadline
The Working Group has also referred the case to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, in accordance with paragraph 33(a) of its methods of work.
That is significant. It means the SR now has the mandate to act. The current SR, Tom Andrews, reportedly ends his term in March 2026. Whether he raises this case - publicly or privately - remains to be seen.
His case sits at a difficult intersection: the cross-border operations that shaped the borderlands, the deep political fragmentation within the Rohingya community, the role of UN accountability mechanisms, and Bangladesh’s international reputation at a moment of renewed scrutiny.
The next few months will determine whether the issue moves forward or evaporates.
3. Where Dil Mohammed actually stood in the political landscape
One thing needs to be made clear. Zero Point was a highly militarised, heavily surveilled space shaped simultaneously by ARSA, RSO, Bangladesh’s intelligence apparatus, and the strategic priorities of Myanmar. No civilian leader operating there could avoid these forces. Dil Mohammed was a civilian community spokesperson navigating a landscape where armed groups, border forces, and state intelligence agencies all exerted pressure.
This complexity around armed actors and political pressures is important for understanding the environment Dil Mohammed lived in but it has no bearing whatsoever on the UN’s findings. The WGAD ruling does not hinge on whether he did or did not associate with this or that group.
The Working Group’s conclusions are grounded in something far more fundamental:
That Dil Mohammed was forcibly disappeared, held incommunicado for months, denied due process, subjected to coercive interrogations, and detained without legal basis.
Membership or affiliation was not the issue. The violations themselves were the issue. Whatever political narratives surrounded him in the borderlands, the UN ruling is unequivocal, and that is, his detention breached international law, violated his basic rights, and requires immediate remedy.
4. Rohingya Voices Respond - Clarity, Pain, and Complexity
Three Rohingya figures offered reflections, each revealing different layers of the moment.
Dr Ambia Parveen
“I have known Dil Mohammed since 2019. He has always been a man of courage, integrity, and unwavering commitment to the Rohingya cause. Like the late Mohib Ullah, he devoted his life to justice, dignity, and the hope that our people might one day return home. His disappearance and secret detention have caused profound pain within our community.”
Advocate Razia Sultana
Razia’s reflections introduce a necessary complexity - they affirm the injustice, while acknowledging intra-community tensions:
“Dil Mohammed’s arrest had no legal basis, and his rights were violated again and again. For Bangladesh this is a decisive moment. If the government is genuinely committed to justice, the rule of law, and rebuilding its international credibility, it must release him immediately, provide full reparations, and hold accountable those responsible for his unlawful detention. This is the time for Bangladesh to act — not with delay or excuses, but with the courage to correct a serious injustice.”
She also shared what Dil Mohammed’s son told her last year:
“He said the situation arose partly due to rivalry and jealousy between Rohingya groups. Some wanted to shift the ARSA issue in another direction - pointing attention away from themselves and redirecting it towards Dil Mohammed. They believe this strategy worked.”
Razia adds her own caution:
“I cannot personally verify his activities, but it is true there were allegations of a controversial relationship between him and ARSA.”
She recalls meeting him in No Man’s Land in 2018:
“He was confident about moving from Zero Point to the Bangladesh camps, and he even said he would help me if I needed assistance. But someone who accompanied him - whom I later heard was linked to ARSA - made me cautious.”
This nuance matters. It is what I try to explain in the section above.
It reflects how no Rohingya civilian leader in border zones can escape the gravitational pull of armed groups, especially in an environment where survival depends on negotiation, appeasement, or confrontation.
But it is equally important to be clear. None of this has any relevance to the UN’s judgment. The WGAD ruling does not assess his affiliations, nor does it take a position on the politics of the borderlands. Its conclusions rest on one thing alone - that Dil Mohammed was forcibly disappeared, denied due process, held incommunicado, and detained without any legal basis.
Aung Kyaw Moe
Deputy Minister, NUG Ministry of Human Rights
“Grassroots leaders like Dil Mohammed play a crucial role in keeping the Rohingya community organised and prepared for durable solutions, especially a safe and dignified return to Myanmar. I hope the authorities review his case with this in mind.”
5. Where advocacy should now focus
This moment now demands coordinated pressure and not just acknowledgment.
What Dhaka must do:
What Dhaka must do now is clear. It must release Dil Mohammed without delay, provide him with reparations, and initiate an independent investigation into the enforced disappearance, abusive detention, and prolonged solitary confinement he endured. Those responsible for these violations must be held to account. And within six months, the government is required to formally report back to the United Nations on the steps it has taken to comply with the ruling.
What rights bodies need to do:
I hope Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights will now take up the case publicly and push for compliance with the UN findings.
The WGAD has done its part. Now the burden lies with governments, UN special mandates, and Rohingya civil actors.
And the story is far from over.
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