Identity, Social Mobility, and Trauma: Post-Conflict Educational Realities for Survivors of the Rohingya Genocide

Abstract

The Rohingya refugee crisis is a humanitarian disaster with over 740,000 Rohingya leaving their homes in Rakhine State, Myanmar, since August 2017. In the process of this mass exodus, thousands have been brutally murdered and terrorized through a campaign of physical attacks by the Myanmar state including murder, beatings and mutilations; mass gang rape and sexual slavery of women and girls; and the burning of entire villages. The victims have been men, women, and children who were targeted because they belonged to a Muslim minority ethnic group. The crisis has been recognized as genocide by officials from several countries including Canada, France, Gambia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, and Turkey. Furthermore, a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Myanmar to take all necessary measures to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya. The genocide of the Rohingya has resulted in a massive number of refugees fleeing to Bangladesh, with 1.1 million of an estimated 2.4 million Rohingya across the world currently encamped there. This crisis has led to questions about how the basic needs of these refugees are being met and if there is any possibility for a life beyond the refugee camps through educational programming. This study explores the educational realities of Rohingya refugees through a process of open-ended and semi-structured interviews of aid workers and educators working in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. Through examining the educational programming in these camps, this article aims to better understand the educational opportunities for social mobility, identity preservation, and the availability of religious instruction to the Rohingya. The findings of this study suggest that religious instruction centers may serve to improve gender- based educational gaps for adolescent Rohingya women.

Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on Rohingya adolescents in Cox's Bazar: A mixed-methods study

“…Likewise, while 20% of Bangladeshi adolescents were hungry in the four weeks prior to survey due to lack of food, this was true of 40% of Rohingya adolescents. Additional information on differences between Rohingya and Bangladeshi adolescents is detailed in a series of policy briefs published by the GAGE program ( Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE), 2020 ; Guglielmi et al., 2020 a; 2020 b; 2020 c; 2020 d; Bakali and Wasty, 2020 ). Keeping in mind the lower socioeconomic status of the Rohingya refugees even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic sets the stage for the burden of any negative impacts from the pandemic.…”

“…Pre-COVID-19, Rohingya refugees were already suffering from insufficient essential services such as food, education, water and sanitation, and basic health care ( Banik et al., 2020 ; Islam and Nuzhath, 2018 ). For adolescents, the focus of this paper, previous mixed-methods research in Cox's Bazar found that Rohingya adolescent girls and boys are a particularly marginalised subpopulation that is failing to develop their full cognitive, emotional and social capabilities due to their precarious displacement status ( Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) 2020 ; Guglielmi et al., 2020 a; 2020 b; 2020 c; 2020 d; Bakali and Wasty, 2020 ). Rohingya and Bangladeshi adolescents living in Cox's Bazar face a multitude of challenges, including age- and gender-based violence, disrupted educational prospects (particularly for older adolescents), widespread psychosocial distress and worry, and limited health service uptake ( Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) 2020 ; Guglielmi et al., 2020 a; 2020 b; 2020 c; 2020 d; Bakali and Wasty, 2020 ).…”

“…For adolescents, the focus of this paper, previous mixed-methods research in Cox's Bazar found that Rohingya adolescent girls and boys are a particularly marginalised subpopulation that is failing to develop their full cognitive, emotional and social capabilities due to their precarious displacement status ( Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) 2020 ; Guglielmi et al., 2020 a; 2020 b; 2020 c; 2020 d; Bakali and Wasty, 2020 ). Rohingya and Bangladeshi adolescents living in Cox's Bazar face a multitude of challenges, including age- and gender-based violence, disrupted educational prospects (particularly for older adolescents), widespread psychosocial distress and worry, and limited health service uptake ( Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) 2020 ; Guglielmi et al., 2020 a; 2020 b; 2020 c; 2020 d; Bakali and Wasty, 2020 ). Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents is especially important, given the potential for long-lasting and multidimentional effects on young people's well-being in the short and medium term.…”

Media influence on humanitarian interventions: analysis of the Rohingya refugee crisis and international media coverage

“…Furthermore, the Rohingyas have been systematically denied access to fundamental social services such as education, health care, reproductive health, and the internet, effectively limiting them from access to critical information and aid from international humanitarian organizations (Khin 2017 ; Rosenthal 2019 ; Bakali and Wasty 2020 ). Before 2017, more than 70% of the Rohingya lacked access to safe water and sanitation services, and only 2% of Rohingya women gave birth in hospitals (Khin 2017 ).…”

Islamophobia in Myanmar: the Rohingya genocide and the ‘war on terror’

“…7 Rohingya men, women and children were targeted because they belonged to a Muslim minority ethnic group that differed from the Burman Buddhist majority. 8 Furthermore, thousands of Rohingya were traumatised through physical attacks, sexual violence and the destruction of their homes. 9 The term ‘genocide’ will be used throughout this examination when describing the violence that began in August 2017.…”