The UN Refugee Agency, tasked with protecting and supporting refugee rights, has paradoxically played a significant role in undermining their autonomy. While the Myanmar government can be held responsible for committing genocide against the Rohingya community, a bureaucratic UNHCR can be seen to be colluding with the Bangladesh government to undermine the agency of the surviving community. This study examines UNHCR’s field operations in Bangladesh, highlighting the pathologies of “Bureaucratic Universalism” and “Insulation” in its approach to Rohingya refugees. These pathologies range from issuing ID cards for Rohingya in an improper manner, violating their privacy by signing MoUs discreetly for repatriating Rohingya under unfavourable conditions to showing a lack of advocacy efforts for the rights of Rohingya who are both stateless persons and refugees to having utter disregard to both internal and external feedback especially coming from refugees themselves and the civil society at large. UNHCR indeed faces a constrained environment in Bangladesh as the country is not a signatory to any of the relevant international conventions, such as the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and deals with foreigners and refugees alike. This indeed puts limitations on the UNHCR to deliver its protection mandate. However, it is argued that as UNHCR navigates through this constrained environment and tries to remain a relevant actor in this field, its actions affect the agency of Rohingya themselves. In trying to augment its organisational agency, UNHCR assumes a paternalistic role in deciding the lives of Rohingya that only does more harm rather than helping them.