organize campaign meetings and political rallies.The activities of NGOs continued to be restricted through the Foreign Donation (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act.  ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES Enforced disappearances were routinely carried out by security forces, mainly targeting supporters of the opposition. Some of the disappeared were subsequently found dead. In a statement to the authorities in February, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said that the number of enforced disappearances had risen considerably in recent years. Reports suggested that more than 80 people were forcibly disappeared during the year. In March, Hummam Quader Chowdhury, son of an executed leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was released after six months’ incommunicado detention. Concerns increased for the safety of Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem and Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, also sons of executed opposition leaders; they disappeared in August 2016 and their whereabouts remained unknown at the end of 2017. In April, Swedish Radio published an interview – recorded undercover – in which a senior member of the Rapid Action Battalion described how the unit carried out enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. In October, academic Mubashar Hasan was allegedly abducted by members of military intelligence; he returned home after 44 days. JUSTICE SYSTEM Concerns increased about the growing interference by the government in the judiciary. In July, the Chief Justice presided over a ruling overturning a controversial constitutional amendment (16th Amendment) which allowed parliament to impeach judges if charges against them of misconduct or incapability were upheld. The Prime Minister criticized the Chief Justice after the ruling. Subsequently in November, Chief Justice Sinha resigned from his post and left the country under circumstances 88 that indicated executive interference following the 16th Amendment decision.  REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS An acute humanitarian crisis began in August when more than 655,000 of Myanmar’s mainly Muslim Rohingya fled to the district of Cox’s Bazar after fleeing violence inflicted by the Myanmar military in northern Rakhine State. The Myanmar military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing amounted to crimes against humanity under international law (see Myanmar entry). Cox’s Bazar already hosted approximately 400,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled earlier episodes of violence and persecution at the hands of the Myanmar military. Bangladesh continued to refuse to formally recognize Rohingya as refugees. Reports of severe malnutrition were rife; children comprised 61% of the new arrivals and were particularly affected. Rohingya women and girls were at heightened risk of sexual and gender-based violence and human trafficking, both by the local population and other refugees. Risk factors included inadequate protection or camp management mechanisms, poor living conditions, lack of a civil administration and police presence, as well as lack of access to the formal justice system and other services. Newly arrived Rohingya lived in squalid conditions and were not permitted to leave the camp. In November, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation agreement to facilitate the return of newly arrived Rohingya to Myanmar. The conditions of the agreement could violate international standards on voluntary repatriation and the international legal principle of non-refoulement, paving the way for forcible return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Myanmar where they were at serious risk of human rights violations. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Torture and other ill-treatment in custody remained widespread and complaints were rarely investigated. The 2013 Torture and Amnesty International Report 2017/18