—Tasnima Haque—

The 2017 influx of over a million Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh, fleeing the brutal genocide in Myanmar, has created one of the world’s largest refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Despite international recognition of the Rohingya as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, their situation remains dire. As Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and lacks specific national legislation governing refugee and asylum affairs, the current interim government is prioritizing the current stay of the Rohingya population on humanitarian grounds as a temporary solution.

While the situation of the camps in Cox’s Bazar is not worthy of living for such a huge population, being severely overcrowded, leading to inadequate sanitation, limited access to clean water, and also to a high risk of disease outbreaks. These conditions exacerbate the vulnerability of Rohingya women and girls to exploitation and abuse. As highlighted by Kathy Win, this raises a critical question: why does violence persist even after escaping the initial source of oppression?

This question, however, points out the years of violence and unequal rights women have compared to men in different patriarchal societies like Myanmar. The Rohingya, particularly women and girls, have endured a long history of violence and systemic discrimination in Myanmar. This trauma continues within the camps. Despite the immense hardships they face, Rohingya refugees in the camps have actively participated in various voluntary activities.

Humanitarian organizations often engage Rohingya individuals as volunteers, including as teachers for children within the camps. However, the introduction of teaching and cultural practices that contradict strict Islamic beliefs (women going outside of the households) within the Rohingya community has sometimes led to resistance and social friction — women who seek education or advocate for women’s rights within the camps often face threats and harassment.

During my time as a researcher in Bangladesh, while investigating sexual and reproductive health practices of Rohingya women, I have come to learn from the Rohingya themselves that the cultural practices have changed a lot among them from then (when they were in Myanmar) and now. The Rohingya (being muslims) were not very likely to accept family planning practices then (when they were in Myanmar) but after coming to Bangladesh they have been taught (by the NGO workers) about the importance of family planning and also about menstrual regulation (known commonly as pregnancy termination).

However, many religious leaders among Rohingya are not very friendly to idea of pregnancy termination. They believe that only those who have illegally engaged in sex before marriage chose this path (whereas the current situation in the camps say different).

A significant number of Rohingya women and girls have suffered from various forms of gender-based violence, including rape, forced marriage, physical and mental abuse, and threats of harm. These acts of violence have been committed by their husbands, family members, and neighbours, while arson attacks, killings, and kidnappings have become frequent occurrences as well. The Rohingya women are being forced into resigning from their voluntary work, primarily with various NGOs, by groups who claim that women working outside the home violates Islamic principles.

The conservative male groups in the Rohingya are increasingly controlling women’s decisions, enforcing the wearing of burqas at all times and questioning their presence in public and workplaces. This significantly restricts the Rohingya women’s mobility and freedom. While NGO-run protection centers exist to report such incidents, many women are hesitant to utilize these services due to fear of retaliation, even further limited mobility, and concerns about administrative delays. Where do we draw the line between respecting cultural diversity and upholding women’s rights?

Despite having access to health rights and education, the Rohingya are deeply rooted within their own cultural practices. The sudden change in their lifestyle practices and free movement of women have cause a paradigm shift in the Rohingya cultural practices (which is not accepted by the leaders of the community). While discussing multiculturalism among the immigrant women during my psychology classes at my University, I could not help but wonder the dire situation of the Rohingya women who, despite crossing borders to end the series of violation they were facing at the hands of their state, come to suffer another new series of oppression by their own cultural hangups.

As a Muslim woman myself, I respect Islamic principles, but I firmly believe these principles do not condone the violation of women’s rights or restrict their access to education and work. The extremist Islamic practices are not an answer to restrict women from their right and do not give the male perpetrators the right to oppress women. Suffering has become a common trait, despite the advancement of societies in the modern era.

While celebrating cultural diversity is crucial, it’s undeniable that certain cultural practices, such as forced marriage, and unequal access to education and healthcare for women, are deeply harmful. Within cultures like the Rohingya, discrimination and gender bias persist — these manifest in unequal division of labour, limited access to leadership roles, and societal expectations which confine women to specific roles.

So I repeat and conclude with the same question I raised before: Where do we draw the line between cultural diversity and upholding universal rights, particularly women rights?

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Tasnima Haque is a post-graduate student at University of Copenhagen.