Violence against Rohingya women and girls in Cox’s Bazar

#GenderBasedViolence in Cox Bazar • Learn more about violence against Rohingya women and girls in Cox’s Bazar • #SaveRohingya

Cox's Bazar, home to the world's biggest refugee camp, with more than 900,000 refugees. Half of the refugees are women and girls. They are not only suffering from the mistreatment of having no citizenship and no permanent residency, but women and girls are also bearing the pain of Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

In Cox's Bazar, the main perpetrators of GBV are intimate partners, like husbands and family members. The acts of violence include rape, forced marriage, physical and mental abuse, and more.

However, women are often silent towards the violence they have been suffering. Only a tiny fraction of the victims seek help and medical care after the sexual violence they had been through. Stigma, fear, threat of retribution, and lack of access to qualified GBV services have stopped them from breaking the silence to reveal the brutalities.

The situation for women and girls got worse because of the global #COVID19 pandemic. The enforced lock-down had cut off their access to reach out for help. They become more vulnerable and bear a higher risk of GBV.

But despite the challenges and mistreatments, Rohingya women play a crucial role in fighting against the pandemic at the frontier, from making masks to protect their community, to disseminating helpful information in the refugee camps!

Manushya Foundation celebrates the brave Rohingya Refugee Women Leader! We admire their courage and their strength; but the violence against them has to stop. NO MORE! #StopGBV

We call on the international community to provide more support to displaced people and women during the global pandemic. Women’s rights must be respected and GBV must be eradicated!

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1. GAGE. Age- and gender-based violence risks facing Rohingya and Bangladeshi adolescents in Cox’s Bazar. Access at: https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/age-and-gender-based-violence-risks-facing-rohingya-and-bangladeshi-adolescents

2. Goodman, A., & Mahmood, I. (2019). The Rohingya Refugee Crisis of Bangladesh: Gender Based Violence and the Humanitarian Response. Open Journal of Political Science, 9, 490-501. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojps.2019.93027

3. OCHA: Rohingya Refugee Crisis. Access at: https://www.unocha.org/rohingya-refugee-crisis

4. UNHCR. Rohingya Refugee Emergency at a Glance: The influx to Bangladesh is one of the largest and fastest-growing refugee crises in decades access at: https://unhcr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=5fdca0f47f1a46498002f39894fcd26f

5. Time. I Am Doing This for Every Place Where Rape Is a Weapon of War.’ Meet the Woman Documenting Sexual Violence Against Myanmar's Rohingya. Access at: https://time.com/5559388/razia-sultana-rohingya-myanmar-sexual-violence-documentation/

6. UNICEF.Preventing a silent crisis for Rohingya women and girls during COVID-19 pandemic. Access at: https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/preventing-silent-crisis-rohingya-women-and-girls-during-covid-19-pandemic

7. UN Women. Women mobilize to prevent COVID-19 in crowded Rohingya refugee camps. Access at: https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/women-mobilize-prevent-covid-19-crowded-rohingya-refugee-camps

8. IRC. The Shadow Pandemic: Gender-Based Violence among Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar. Access at: https://www.rescue-uk.org/report/shadow-pandemic-gender-based-violence-among-rohingya-refugees-coxs-bazar