The Rohingya’s Predicament (Hardcover)

The Rohingya, the subject of this study, are a minority group living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, comprised primarily of Muslims. Since the 1960s, the Rohingya have been living all over the world, fleeing persecution and discrimination. In 2017, a massive crackdown displaced over 700,000 people from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh for refuge. This led to the establishment of large camps in Bangladesh, where 960,000 people now live, including more than 200,000 people who were already in the country. Partly due to the unstable situation in Myanmar after the military coup d’état in 2021, repatriation efforts have made no progressed and the Rohingya in Bangladesh have been placed in a ‘protracted refugee situation.’
This book discusses various issues surrounding the Rohingya from a Bangladeshi and Japanese perspective. Bangladesh has been the largest primary host nation for the Rohingya since the mass refugee outbreak in 2017. However, since the repatriation project to Myanmar has failed and there is no hope for the Rohingya to return to their home country, it is time to discuss the adaptation and coexistence of the Rohingya in Bangladeshi society. Six of the eight authors of this book are researchers whose roots are in Japan. Each of the six has been involved in studies and/or support of the Rohingya and other Muslims living in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Japan as researchers and/or activists (See author’s profile for more details). The chapters by these authors are based on their positionality and experiences, which can provide a different perspective from those of researchers based in Bangladesh or Myanmar. Moreover, Japan may not seem to be deeply involved with the Rohingya and their difficulties. However, Japan has historically and currently been involved in the issues faced by the Rohingya, and there are Rohingya communities living in Japan. The book also includes chapters dealing with these topics and aims to approach the Rohingya and their predicament from a Japanese perspective.
To this end, this book contains chapters on the political status of the Rohingya in Bangladesh, the situation in refugee camps, gender issues, discussions on Islam, comparisons with other refugees in Bangladesh, and the issue of statelessness. In this book, ‘The Rohingya’ is used when referring to the Rohingya in general, but we use ‘Rohingyas’ when highlighting the diversity within the Rohingya. By making this distinction, we seek to avoid monolithizing the varied experiences of each Rohingya from diverse backgrounds.