The thesis aims to examine the approaches of humanitarian organizations towards achieving gender transformative changes and the challenges as well as obstacles to implementing gender transformative programming in the ongoing humanitarian response in Bangladesh for the Rohingyas since 2017. The research is conducted through applying qualitative methodology, consisting of document analysis and interviews. The document analysis is based on annual reports and gender analysis of humanitarian organizations working in the Rohingya response. Eight interviews conducted for this thesis provide insights and reflection from gender practitioners who are implementing gender transformative programs. The gender transformative approach focuses on removing the barriers, so women and men can achieve full access to resources and opportunities promoting gender equality and a gender transformative program that adopts the approach from the development till the results stage. The gender integration continuum tool and Gender and Age Marker (GAM) help gender practitioners evaluate and shape their programs with a transformative approach. The transformative programs are crucial for the response considering the existing gender gaps and needs, and for the humanitarian organizations to recognize the need for and importance of gender transformative programs. The barriers and challenges of implementing a gender transformative program in the Rohingya crisis are mainly three types: a) legal, b) structural, and c) cultural challenges. The lack of refugee rights of the Rohingyas results in establishing a response mechanism that is based on practical needs rather than strategic needs. It also hinders the implementation of the GBV case management program. There are structural challenges arising from the lack of capacity among the staff members, limited allocation of time from unequal practices, and lack of gender mainstreaming in humanitarian organizations. Culturally, the tendency to follow universal transformative program models and the reluctance of the humanitarian community to invest in gender transformative programs creates challenges in implementing gender transformative programs.

This degree project explores the role of Rohingya photographers in the refugee camps in Bangladesh and their use of visuals and social media as tools for communication for development and social change. The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim community, have faced discrimination and persecution for decades in Myanmar, which has resulted in their displacement to Bangladesh. The study argues that these Rohingya photographers challenge the binary representation of refugees in mainstream media as threats or victims by portraying the community as proactive and caring. They have made an impact by reaching thousands of people through their collective activism on social media and photography projects, and have also fought for their rights to be credited and paid for their published work. The research is relevant in the context of the increasing number of refugees worldwide and the need to challenge negative perceptions and promote inclusivity. The methodological approach includes online interviews, virtual research, and photography semiotic analysis. The findings highlight the photographers' efforts to improve their situation, preserve their collective memory, and achieve participation, despite their lack of rights and the dire situation in the refugee camps in Bangladesh.

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Ce mémoire de recherche en droit comparé est relatif à la crise des Rohingyas. Plus précisément, il vise à étudier le rôle que pourraient jouer la France et le Canada, d’un point de vue pénal, afin de juger les principaux responsables des crimes commis à l’encontre des Rohingyas au Myanmar, étant donné la compétence limitée de la Cour pénale internationale.

Against a backdrop of local, regional and national conflicts the former generals now in government, have decided to focus on tourism and have worked hard since 2010 to develop Burma’s tourism sector. Ngapali, a small costal community in Rakhine state has been developed into a tourism destination with hotels and restaurants, all located on a beautiful beach. Tourism has great implications for communities, both negative and positive. For Ngapali the development of tourism led to an increased amount of jobs in the tourism sector. The access to hospitality training and education also increased. Educated and trained staff were able to demand higher wages for themselves and they managed to access further hospitality training at other tourist destinations in Burma. The few Burmese Rohingya employed at the hotels did unfortunately not share this rather empowered position the Burmese Buddhists had as they fell victim to severe discrimination. Unfortunately the development of tourism in Ngapali led to a conflict between the hotels located at the beach and the fishermen who traditionally had used the beach for drying fish. The lack of participation from local population in the development of tourism was also problematic. The Burmese government chose to design the tourism sector in Ngapali as they pleased without taking the local community into account. The use of hotel zones, sand mining, lack of infrastructure thus leading all tourists to fly to Ngapali, the fact that the hotels used already scarce water and electricity resources and the discrimination and ill-treatment of marginalized groups made the tourism sector unsustainable. In addition to these local conflicts and issues the over-all situation in Rakhine, and even Burma, make the future for Ngapali as a tourism destination very uncertain.

The Rohingya, an ethnic minority group that traditionally have lived in Rakhine State, Myanmar, are facing severe structural discrimination from the Myanmar state. Rohingya women and girls have experienced horrific acts of gender-based violence from the Myanmar army in Rakhine State before they fled to Bangladesh and the refugee camps in Cox Bazar area. In these refugee camps gender-based violence continues to be widespread, much like other refugee camps in other parts of the world. Rohingya women and girls are vulnerable because of their gender, refugee status and ethnic affiliation. In addition they become even more vulnerable because family and community structures have broken down. These intersecting vulnerabilities make them exposed to gender-based violence from a number of different perpetrators. In addition these intersecting vulnerabilities lead to a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. Overall the humanitarian organisations operating in Cox Bazar did not manage to deliver these sexual and reproductive health services to the amount of Rohingya women and girls that needed them. Although gender-based violence was identified to be widespread in the refugee camps preventive measures were few. The unequal power relationships are identified as an underpinning reason for gender-based violence. In addition, the underlying causes of gender-based violence are connected with beliefs, norms, attitudes and structures that promote and/or tolerate gender-based discrimination and unequal power relationships.

The Rohingya Muslim minority, originally living in Rakhine state in western Myanmar, has been marginalized and harassed for decades. The Rohingya minority has been stateless since 1982 and they strive to become Burmese citizens. Many Rohingya have been displaced and live in refugee camps in Bangladesh with UNHCR calling them one of the most vulnerable refugee groups in the world. The military junta in Myanmar did not look kindly at rebellious minority groups in the country, brutally beating down all minority opposition. Despite Myanmar is now in a process of democratization, the State-Councilor and President in all but name, Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to address the ongoing violence suffered by Rohingya. Although Myanmar has 135 recognized minority groups, the country is far from being a pluralistic society. Ethnicity and religion have played an important role in creating a national identity in Myanmar; a national identity which systematically excludes Rohingya. This thesis argues that the reason for Rohingya’s exclusion is the so called political Buddhism in Myanmar. Political Buddhism is when excluding Buddhism, the Burmese ethnicity and aggressive nationalism are used to exclude and persecute minority groups perceived as non-Burman. This thesis explores, through an ideology analysis, how political Buddhism can be used to understand the exclusion of Rohingya in Myanmar. Finally, the conclusion is that political Buddhism has been an important element to Rohingya’s exclusion in Myanmar. However, it is not the sole explanation and other factors such as poverty and underdevelopment are also considerable aspects. / I Rakhine i västra Myanmar lever den muslimska minoritetsgruppen Rohingya under stort förtryck. Myanmars burmesiska majoritet har förtryckt Rohingya i årtionden och sedan 1982 är minoritetsgruppen statslösa. Flera hundratusen Rohingyier har flytt från Rakhine till flyktingläger i Bangladesh och UNHCR har kallat dem en av världens mest utsatta flyktinggrupper. Trots att Myanmar genomgår en demokratiseringsprocess vägrar Myanmars folkvalda ledare, Aung San Suu Kyi att fördöma våldet som Rohingya har fått utstå. Myanmar har 135 officiella minoritetsgrupper, men Rohingya är inte en av dem och landet är har fortfarande långt kvar till att bli ett accepterande mångkulturellt samhälle. Etnicitet och religion har spelat en viktig roll i skapandet av Myanmars nationella identitet, vilken har exkluderat Rohingya och andra icke-etniska burmesiska minoritetsgrupper. Jag argumenterar att anledningen till denna exkludering beror på så kallad politisk Buddhism, en kvasi-ideologi som uppstått genom exkluderande Buddhism, burmesisk etnicitet och aggressiv nationalism. Den här uppsatsen konceptualiserar politisk Buddhism genom en ideologianalys, utifrån en idealtyp och strävar efter att öka förståelsen för Rohingyas exkludering i Myanmar. Avslutningsvis är politisk Buddhism till stor del anledningen till Rohingyas marginalisering, men andra faktorer såsom fattigdom och låg ekonomisk utveckling är också möjliga faktorer.

Refugee camps, mostly located in the Global South, host millions of human beings and mirror the overburden and incapacity of humanitarian response. If these places were once supposedly created to aggregate asylum-seekers temporarily, now they have become the norm for prolonged stays where future generations grow.This thesis explores the viability of the UNHCR’s durable solutions for Rohingya Refugees- local integration, resettlement, and repatriation. Moreover, it questions the role of non-state actors when it comes to decision-making in refugee governance. The analysis is conducted through a critical interpretive synthesis. The selected literature was scrutinized and linked to theoretical concepts such as human security, securitization of migration, legal pluralism, and complex interdependence.In summary, the literature analyzed shares a unanimity that, although conditions in the camps are unsustainable for permanent stays, efforts to build better futures for refugees are not being explored enough. This is mainly due to a reluctance of States to accept refugees on behalf of their integrity and security, in the sense that refugees are perceived as threats to their sovereignty. In this sense, potential efforts by non-state actors to provide a sustainable future for refugees fall behind: in a scenario where national security prevails, keeping refugees in the camp seems to be the safest choice.

The politics of labeling is not a brand-new discussion in the political science field, however, the discussion on refugee labeling in the Global South context is barely discussed. The Rohingyas and the Venezuelans fled their countries to avoid persecution and other human rights violation happening in the countries. Although according to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1984 Cartagena Declaration they fall under the refugee label, in reality, the label is determined by the receiving states. Some labels (such as those offered by Colombia and Peru), offer higher protection, whilst others (such as those offered by Malaysia and Thailand) offer lower or even no protection at all. This thesis analyzed how this label affects human security by using comparative and document analysis. The findings show how labeling impacts the human security of the refugees which for some of them, is a life-and-death situation.

Une grande partie des femmes Rohingyas réfugiées en processus d’insertion sociale et professionnelle en sol québécois rencontrent des difficultés à s’engager dans la sphère professionnelle, notamment à cause de leur vécu migratoire forcé, de l’apprentissage d’une nouvelle langue et des écarts qui confrontent leur culture d’origine et la culture du pays hôte. Cette étude qualitative, réalisée par le biais d’entrevues de huit femmes Rohingyas réfugiées à Québec décrit les spécificités de leur parcours migratoire : les obstacles qu’elles rencontrent à travers la construction/reconstruction de leur identité sociale, culturelle et religieuse, ceux-ci d’autant avivés par leur manque de capital social dans la société hôte. Les huit femmes rencontrées mettent en place des stratégies d’insertion qui marquent leur trajectoire socioprofessionnelle. Cette recherche se penche particulièrement sur le contenu de la représentation identitaire de deux femmes Rohingyas ayant intégré un emploi.