Bangladesh Issues - 2024

Disputes - international

Bangladesh-Burma: the border area has historically been an area of conflict and instability; militants, particularly ethnic armed groups (EAGs) from Burma, continue to operate in the border region and conduct illegal crossings, and both countries maintain considerable numbers of security personnel along the border; Burmese military forces actively conduct operations against EAGs; in 2022, Burmese artillery struck Bangladesh territory several times during military operations against Arakan Army rebels inside Rakhine; as of 2017, Burmese border authorities had constructed about 130 miles of border fencing and had planned to fence off the remainder of the border

Bangladesh-India: Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea; Indian Prime Minister Singh's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh, which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over un-demarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves, but which had never been implemented

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 975,350 (Burma) (2024)

IDPs: 427,000 (conflict, development, human rights violations, religious persecution, natural disasters) (2022)

stateless persons: 929,606 (2022)

Illicit drugs

transit country for illegal drugs produced in neighboring countries; does not manufacture precursor chemicals with the exception of sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and toluene