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Photojournalism: Rohingya: "I'm Better Than Before, But Inside My Heart Lies So Much Pain"

 

Project commissioned by UN Women about Rohingya and Bangladeshi women who are working in the response. Released as a book, available at select UN Women Bangladesh events.  

  • A rainy view of Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Lucky poses for a photo in front of a collection of Khanta blankets made by Rohingya women at the Women Friendly Center. Lucky, 19, is taking a BRAC course on peace-building. {quote}There are lots of groups working here. If we work together we will be successful. If we are strong and raise out voices together we will united all the time. The biggest problem we face is domestic violence. They just think women are only good for cooking and raising families. If we are educated the situation will change.{quote}
  • Families are relocated because of flooding and landslides in Balukhali Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Women are seen in Nayapara Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Abul Kalam Azad spends time with his family in his home.Abul Kalam Azad, 41, is a Bangladeshi who lives in Balukhali camp with his 7 other family members. He's lived here for 9 years. {quote}Before the influx, it was just the elephants and me{quote}. He used to farm his fields before with rice and vegetables. Since the influx he says it's been very difficult, last week he broke up a fight and a mob beat him. But he tries his best to support them. When the influx happened he gave them shelter and food. He sheltered 16 families in his house over the course of 3 months. They told him and his family stories of what happened to them. He thought someday maybe it could happen to him and felt empathy for them. But he says if he knew the situation would turn like this he would not have given them shelter. {quote}They're muslim like me, they're me people. I feel sad for them. But I don't get any support. I gave them land when they had none. Everyone says I'm a nice person but people from the other blocks beat me. This is the only land we have. Even if we wanted to take it back or leave we can't go anywhere. We don't have any hope. His wife Zahrina Khatum, 35, works at the IPSHA office, making 6,000 taka per month, Abul works as a night guard for Save The Children earning, 10,000 taka per month, his sister works at Action Aid earning 10,000 taka per month.
  • Bangladeshi police women Shati Akhter, Rupali Akhter, Mojina Begum, Mojina Akhter and Ruby Barua pose for photo at their duty station.The Women Help Desk deals most prominently with domestic violence, polygamy, rape and trafficking. The most surprising thing that the deal with is the level of domestic violence. {quote}Rohingya women have suffered so much and survived. We just want to make sure hey get their justice. that is our goal{quote}
  • Women are seen in Balukhali Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Women are seen in Balukhali Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • 20 year old Swahila is the leader of the widows camp. She says that one day the military attacked her village, burned all the houses, slit the throats of young boys, threw young children and babies onto fires and took away the beautiful girls. When the brothers of the girls protested, their necks were slit. It took her 10 days to walk to Bangladesh. She says that she feels happy she has the opportunity to take care of and be responsible for the other women. {quote}Here, we all share together, we're all friends.{quote} She was married at the age of 14 and 4 years ago her husband got on a boat and made the journey to Malaysia seeking a better life. Two weeks ago she arranged for a broker to take her from the camps to Malaysia. When she was gathered with the broker and about 10 other women about to get on the boat, the Bangladesh Navy suddenly swooped in. The broker took the opportunity to rob her of 30,000 taka and her cell phone. Her husband has been waiting for her and she is desperate to start a new life with him. She encourages him to re-marry but he says he loves her and wants to wait for her. In the refugee settlement of Balukhali, over 116 widows, orphans, and women who have been separated from their husbands have found shelter within a dense settlement of 50 red tents where no men or boys over the age of 10 years old are allowed.
  • Nosima Khatom, 70, lives in the widows camp. {quote}I'm so grateful for the support that we have gotten here, but I have no hope for the future. If we got back we will be killed. I wish the international community would help us to go back. I want justice{quote} She left Burma after her nephew was killed. The father of her grandchild, 1.5 year old Nur Fatema, was killed in Myanmar. {quote}I really don't have hope for her future. She doesn't have her father, no grandfather. Women aren't strong like men. In our culture men can go out and make money, women can't. My daughter already has 3 kids, who will marry her?” Nosima Khatom says {quote}This is a little village here, we call it Shanti. We feel safe here. We're all women living here together, we help each other. But still I can't forget my country, my sweet home, my life. I still get nightmares, I still wake up crying.” In the refugee settlement of Balukhali, over 116 widows, orphans, and women who have been separated from their husbands have found shelter within a dense settlement of 50 red tents where no men or boys over the age of 10 years old are allowed.
  • Salema Khatum cooks for relatives in the widows camp. In the refugee settlement of Balukhali, over 116 widows, orphans, and women who have been separated from their husbands have found shelter within a dense settlement of 50 red tents where no men or boys over the age of 10 years old are allowed.
  • Women and children are seen in the widows camp. In the refugee settlement of Balukhali, over 116 widows, orphans, and women who have been separated from their husbands have found shelter within a dense settlement of 50 red tents where no men or boys over the age of 10 years old are allowed.
  • 27 year old Shamima Bibi is currently running 3 school for women and is in the process of opening a 4th. She opened the first school 7 months ago and currently has around 50 students, the youngest of whom is 13, the oldest is 60 years old. Many Rohingya women and girls don't attend educational classes because the classes are mixed gender. The students say that in Myanmar there was no need for education, but here in the camps, to get basic services they need to have education. In Myanmar, Shamima risked her life, attending Sittwe university undercover, dressing as a Buddhist woman. In the camps she works for a Rohingya women's rights organization. After coming to Bangladesh she worked to convince the Rohingya men and women that Islam does not dictate that women cannot get an education. In Myanmar it was thought that after a woman gets her first period she cannot leave the house, but after coming to Bangladesh it is becoming more widely understood that women have to just wear hijab and burka when the leave their homes. Her family told her that {quote}If you are not educated, you are blind. You can't understand the world{quote}. {quote}I want to show the Myanmar government that we can do anything. If I can teach the women something, then when we go back they will be shocked. I want to show them that our women are confident and can do anything{quote} When she first started recruiting women to come to her classes the men and women gave them a hard time, asking why education was important. She started with only 5 students and now when she is out and about in the camps, so many women request to join that she has started having to turn people away. When there is trouble at home, she will go to the students house to convince the husband why it's important that his wife is educated. Right now these schools are funded directly from Shamima's pocket. She will buy one notebook and tear out the pages and distribute the individual pages to each student to use. Shamima dreams of all Rohingya women to be educated {quote}This isn't life, getting food, cooking, eating, sleeping, I want everyone to raise their voices and talk about problems. I want to do something for my community, because this isn't life. If a mother is not educated, she can't raise her children{quote}
  • Women and children are seen in the widows camp. In the refugee settlement of Balukhali, over 116 widows, orphans, and women who have been separated from their husbands have found shelter within a dense settlement of 50 red tents where no men or boys over the age of 10 years old are allowed.
  • 27 year old Shamima Bibi is currently running 3 school for women and is in the process of opening a 4th. She opened the first school 7 months ago and currently has around 50 students, the youngest of whom is 13, the oldest is 60 years old. Many Rohingya women and girls don't attend educational classes because the classes are mixed gender. The students say that in Myanmar there was no need for education, but here in the camps, to get basic services they need to have education. In Myanmar, Shamima risked her life, attending Sittwe university undercover, dressing as a Buddhist woman. In the camps she works for a Rohingya women's rights organization. After coming to Bangladesh she worked to convince the Rohingya men and women that Islam does not dictate that women cannot get an education. In Myanmar it was thought that after a woman gets her first period she cannot leave the house, but after coming to Bangladesh it is becoming more widely understood that women have to just wear hijab and burka when the leave their homes. Her family told her that {quote}If you are not educated, you are blind. You can't understand the world{quote}. {quote}I want to show the Myanmar government that we can do anything. If I can teach the women something, then when we go back they will be shocked. I want to show them that our women are confident and can do anything{quote} When she first started recruiting women to come to her classes the men and women gave them a hard time, asking why education was important. She started with only 5 students and now when she is out and about in the camps, so many women request to join that she has started having to turn people away. When there is trouble at home, she will go to the students house to convince the husband why it's important that his wife is educated. Right now these schools are funded directly from Shamima's pocket. She will buy one notebook and tear out the pages and distribute the individual pages to each student to use. Shamima dreams of all Rohingya women to be educated {quote}This isn't life, getting food, cooking, eating, sleeping, I want everyone to raise their voices and talk about problems. I want to do something for my community, because this isn't life. If a mother is not educated, she can't raise her children{quote}
  • Roshida, 40, works as a Mahji in Nayapara camp. “Camp life has been very different. I'm happy that everyone respects me. when they have problems they come to me and if I can't solve it I go to the CIC. People treat me as an authority figure and come to me first. I'm happy that I'm breaking barriers but still there are people who don't allow women outside. Before me there were no female volunteers. People gave me a hard time. After I was elected I convinced a lot of people that women can work and have power. I always try to protect women. Now we have 50 women volunteers, out of about 200 men. Women go door to door fixing problems and giving information.{quote} She works on practical problems such as broken houses, water problems. It's been about 9 months since she's been Mahji and she looks after 100 houses. “The biggest problem I run into again and again is men saying that women working outside the house is against the culture.”
  • Shamima Akter Jahan works as an assistant CIC. She grew up in Rajshahi with two sisters and studied physics in Dhaka. In the camp, she says, the Rohingya accepted her well but “it was a big change and shock for them.” In the 27 year history for the RRRC she is the first female CIC. {quote}I don't know why, maybe no one thought a lady could do this job.{quote} She considered doing the job as soon as she saw it advertised. Her boss at the time told her {quote}You should go, you'll be a pioneer. Maybe you can be an example for other women.{quote} Her role is to support the CIC in areas of law and order and mediating disputes. Also coordinating between the police, local government, community leader and Mahji, as well between all the NGOs and beneficiaries. Everyday she is deal with issues of gender based violence, 6-7 cases daily. About dealing with GBV she says {quote}This is the toughest job I do here. Psychologically it was difficult.{quote} She recalls a particularly difficult incident, where a woman's husband was beating her every day and divorced her because she gave birth to a girl instead of a boy. {quote}I couldn't believe it. You see this baby girls face and you're shattered. The baby was only 2 months old. I couldn't resolve it. Every time I see the babies fave it tortures me. I this this personally. As men, the other CICs can understand the same way. The women in the camp are very open with me. This is a privilege. Everyone thinks this job is very male dominated, but it's just the opposite. The camp is 60% women. We need more female CICs.{quote} Regarding the issues, specifically gender issues facing the Rohingya population she says {quote}We can work easily here as Bangladeshis because we passed this patriarchal phase in our country too. We are replicating and using the same techniques as what we did here 30 years ago in Bangladesh.{quote} {quote}In the office, when we are having CIC meetings, among 50-55 people I am the only women, and it's not a good thing. This is still a patriarchal society, and when there are discussions they still say a lot of patriarchal things. There is still a lot to be done here for women empowerment. My colleagues are supportive of me but often my voice isn't heard, and they don't understand that they aren't hearing me.{quote} {quote}This experience has made me strong.{quote}
  • Shamima Akter Jahan works as an assistant CIC. She grew up in Rajshahi with two sisters and studied physics in Dhaka. In the camp, she says, the Rohingya accepted her well but “it was a big change and shock for them.” In the 27 year history for the RRRC she is the first female CIC. {quote}I don't know why, maybe no one thought a lady could do this job.{quote} She considered doing the job as soon as she saw it advertised. Her boss at the time told her {quote}You should go, you'll be a pioneer. Maybe you can be an example for other women.{quote} Her role is to support the CIC in areas of law and order and mediating disputes. Also coordinating between the police, local government, community leader and Mahji, as well between all the NGOs and beneficiaries. Everyday she is deal with issues of gender based violence, 6-7 cases daily. About dealing with GBV she says {quote}This is the toughest job I do here. Psychologically it was difficult.{quote} She recalls a particularly difficult incident, where a woman's husband was beating her every day and divorced her because she gave birth to a girl instead of a boy. {quote}I couldn't believe it. You see this baby girls face and you're shattered. The baby was only 2 months old. I couldn't resolve it. Every time I see the babies fave it tortures me. I this this personally. As men, the other CICs can understand the same way. The women in the camp are very open with me. This is a privilege. Everyone thinks this job is very male dominated, but it's just the opposite. The camp is 60% women. We need more female CICs.{quote} Regarding the issues, specifically gender issues facing the Rohingya population she says {quote}We can work easily here as Bangladeshis because we passed this patriarchal phase in our country too. We are replicating and using the same techniques as what we did here 30 years ago in Bangladesh.{quote} {quote}In the office, when we are having CIC meetings, among 50-55 people I am the only women, and it's not a good thing. This is still a patriarchal society, and when there are discussions they still say a lot of patriarchal things. There is still a lot to be done here for women empowerment. My colleagues are supportive of me but often my voice isn't heard, and they don't understand that they aren't hearing me.{quote} {quote}This experience has made me strong.{quote}
  • The funeral of 60 year old Fatima Khatun is seen. She died of a high fever.
  • Children play in Balukhali Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Yasmin Akhter, is a 14 year old wife and mother. She came to Bangladesh when she was 8 years old. She never had the chance to go to school. Her father left the family and left her mother, 40 old NurNahar Begum, and two years after she fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh she was sent to Chittagong to work as a housekeeper for a family of 5. She worked there for two years, never receiving a formal salary, getting only 200 or 300 taka occasionally. The mother that she worked for beat her frequently. She wasn't allowed to go outside, but Yasmin stayed thinking that it was the only way she could help her family. One day she couldn't take any more and she called her mother and told her about the abuse, and said if she stayed there one more day she would die. Her mother brought her back to the refugee camp and arranged for her to get married. Yasmin was 12 years old when she married her 30 year old husband. When Yasmin was married she was happy, she thought that her husband would provide a better life for her, but he is sick and unable to work, and their food rations from the NGOs are not enough. 9 months ago Yasmin gave birth to a baby girl. She dreams of a better life for her daughter, one where she is independent, educated, and works a respected job. {quote}It will be up to her when she gets married{quote} Yasmin says. NurNahar Begum says {quote}I didn't have any choice, that's why I had to make this decision. I took two wrong decisions for her life. The first one sending her to Chittagong to work as a maid and the second one in getting her married. I didn't know it would turn out like this. I always tried to give my kids a good life but I failed. We never had enough food, no good shelter, they were never able to get an education. I failed.{quote}
  • NurNahar Begum and Yasmin are seen in their shelter. Yasmin Akhter, is a 14 year old wife and mother. She came to Bangladesh when she was 8 years old. She never had the chance to go to school. Her father left the family and left her mother, 40 old NurNahar Begum, and two years after she fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh she was sent to Chittagong to work as a housekeeper for a family of 5. She worked there for two years, never receiving a formal salary, getting only 200 or 300 taka occasionally. The mother that she worked for beat her frequently. She wasn't allowed to go outside, but Yasmin stayed thinking that it was the only way she could help her family. One day she couldn't take any more and she called her mother and told her about the abuse, and said if she stayed there one more day she would die. Her mother brought her back to the refugee camp and arranged for her to get married. Yasmin was 12 years old when she married her 30 year old husband. When Yasmin was married she was happy, she thought that her husband would provide a better life for her, but he is sick and unable to work, and their food rations from the NGOs are not enough. 9 months ago Yasmin gave birth to a baby girl. She dreams of a better life for her daughter, one where she is independent, educated, and works a respected job. {quote}It will be up to her when she gets married{quote} Yasmin says. NurNahar Begum says {quote}I didn't have any choice, that's why I had to make this decision. I took two wrong decisions for her life. The first one sending her to Chittagong to work as a maid and the second one in getting her married. I didn't know it would turn out like this. I always tried to give my kids a good life but I failed. We never had enough food, no good shelter, they were never able to get an education. I failed.{quote}
  • Dildar Begum, 25, and her daughter Nur Kalima, 12 run a shop in Hakimpara camp. Her husband and other children were brutally killed in Myanmar. The money to open the shop was donated by a journalist who visited her. {quote}I'm better than before but inside my heart there lies so much pain. The extra money helps buy them vegetables and fish. Her daughter goes to the madrassa in the morning and runs the shop in the afternoons. {quote}I feel shy to be in front of other people. People will say I'm doing bad things. In our community women can't be outside and in front of people. My daughter runs this shop.{quote} After her daughter gets older and married she wont let her run the shop. She plans to just do sewing then. {quote}I have lost all my kids and my husband. In my mind there is no peace. This is Bangladesh, not my own country. We are provided with the things we need but it feels like nothing because this is not our own country. If we are given our rights we will go back, we can have a peaceful live. There is a lot of sadness in my heart. If Allah killed me I would be happy. I've seen a lot of people killed and I’ve been suffering here a lot.“ Her daughter Nur Kalima would rather be in school {quote}I can take an education anywhere I go. I cant take this shop anywhere.’ — Dildar fled to Bangladesh shortly after the August 25th attack from Tula Toli village in Myanmar. She says that one day the military came and opened fired on her village and stormed into her house. They took her husband out of the house and to the riverbank and shot him. Then they came back into her house and grabbed her baby from her arms and stabbed him in the head. They killed another one of her children by cutting his throat, and another by beating her over the head with a rifle. 2 military held her arms while another raped her. They then beat her and she pretended to be dead. When they left, they set her house on fire. Her 10 year old daughter, Nurkalima, was severely injured when the military beat her over the head with the blades of machetes, but she helped her mom crawl past the burning bodies of her children and out of the burning house. For 5 days she hid in the hills and when the military left, she went back to Tula Toli on her way to the Bangladesh border. All that was left of her village was smoke and ask where houses used to be. There were bodies everywhere, so many that they were uncountable. She came across some men who carried her for two days to the border, where they were able to cross into Bangladesh by boat. {quote}I want justice. My kids were killed, I want justice for them.{quote} she says
  • Deluder peeks through a hole from her shelter into her shop that her 12 year old daughter is running.Dildar Begum, 25, and her daughter Nur Kalima, 12 run a shop in Hakimpara camp. Her husband and other children were brutally killed in Myanmar. The money to open the shop was donated by a journalist who visited her. {quote}I'm better than before but inside my heart there lies so much pain. The extra money helps buy them vegetables and fish. Her daughter goes to the madrassa in the morning and runs the shop in the afternoons. {quote}I feel shy to be in front of other people. People will say I'm doing bad things. In our community women can't be outside and in front of people. My daughter runs this shop.{quote} After her daughter gets older and married she wont let her run the shop. She plans to just do sewing then. {quote}I have lost all my kids and my husband. In my mind there is no peace. This is Bangladesh, not my own country. We are provided with the things we need but it feels like nothing because this is not our own country. If we are given our rights we will go back, we can have a peaceful live. There is a lot of sadness in my heart. If Allah killed me I would be happy. I've seen a lot of people killed and I’ve been suffering here a lot.“ Her daughter Nur Kalima would rather be in school {quote}I can take an education anywhere I go. I cant take this shop anywhere.’ — Dildar fled to Bangladesh shortly after the August 25th attack from Tula Toli village in Myanmar. She says that one day the military came and opened fired on her village and stormed into her house. They took her husband out of the house and to the riverbank and shot him. Then they came back into her house and grabbed her baby from her arms and stabbed him in the head. They killed another one of her children by cutting his throat, and another by beating her over the head with a rifle. 2 military held her arms while another raped her. They then beat her and she pretended to be dead. When they left, they set her house on fire. Her 10 year old daughter, Nurkalima, was severely injured when the military beat her over the head with the blades of machetes, but she helped her mom crawl past the burning bodies of her children and out of the burning house. For 5 days she hid in the hills and when the military left, she went back to Tula Toli on her way to the Bangladesh border. All that was left of her village was smoke and ask where houses used to be. There were bodies everywhere, so many that they were uncountable. She came across some men who carried her for two days to the border, where they were able to cross into Bangladesh by boat. {quote}I want justice. My kids were killed, I want justice for them.{quote} she says
  • 12 year old Nur Kalima runs her mothers shop.Dildar Begum, 25, and her daughter Nur Kalima, 12 run a shop in Hakimpara camp. Her husband and other children were brutally killed in Myanmar. The money to open the shop was donated by a journalist who visited her. {quote}I'm better than before but inside my heart there lies so much pain. The extra money helps buy them vegetables and fish. Her daughter goes to the madrassa in the morning and runs the shop in the afternoons. {quote}I feel shy to be in front of other people. People will say I'm doing bad things. In our community women can't be outside and in front of people. My daughter runs this shop.{quote} After her daughter gets older and married she wont let her run the shop. She plans to just do sewing then. {quote}I have lost all my kids and my husband. In my mind there is no peace. This is Bangladesh, not my own country. We are provided with the things we need but it feels like nothing because this is not our own country. If we are given our rights we will go back, we can have a peaceful live. There is a lot of sadness in my heart. If Allah killed me I would be happy. I've seen a lot of people killed and I’ve been suffering here a lot.“ Her daughter Nur Kalima would rather be in school {quote}I can take an education anywhere I go. I cant take this shop anywhere.’ — Dildar fled to Bangladesh shortly after the August 25th attack from Tula Toli village in Myanmar. She says that one day the military came and opened fired on her village and stormed into her house. They took her husband out of the house and to the riverbank and shot him. Then they came back into her house and grabbed her baby from her arms and stabbed him in the head. They killed another one of her children by cutting his throat, and another by beating her over the head with a rifle. 2 military held her arms while another raped her. They then beat her and she pretended to be dead. When they left, they set her house on fire. Her 10 year old daughter, Nurkalima, was severely injured when the military beat her over the head with the blades of machetes, but she helped her mom crawl past the burning bodies of her children and out of the burning house. For 5 days she hid in the hills and when the military left, she went back to Tula Toli on her way to the Bangladesh border. All that was left of her village was smoke and ask where houses used to be. There were bodies everywhere, so many that they were uncountable. She came across some men who carried her for two days to the border, where they were able to cross into Bangladesh by boat. {quote}I want justice. My kids were killed, I want justice for them.{quote} she says
  • Razia Sultana was born in Myanmar but is a Bangladesh citizen. She grew up in Chittagong in the tight knit Rohingya community. Her dream was always to be a barrister but after she was married her husbands family didn't approve of her studying further. {quote}My life is full of struggle{quote} She and her family were involved with the Rohingya activist groups ARNO and BRC, and in 2009 the Bangladesh government shut the organizations down. Two of her family members were put in jail and into exile abroad. {quote}The influx broke me totally. I was sick and traumatized and full of feat in my heart. I couldn't control myself. My friends and family asked me what I wanted and I said that I have to do something for women. That was the start. I gave up everything to work for my nation, to get them their rights, their human rights. What's been going on is wrong.{quote} She has since trained hundreds of women in livelihood and literacy training. {quote}There is no life in the camps, they have become a burden for the world. If there is no skills training, no education, they will become subhumans! They’re deprived of all opportunities and denied a normal life. They will become desperate and you can't blame them or anybody , it's like you're creating a bomb! They're frustrated and cant think wrong or right. We have to prevent this, we have to solve the issue of going back, you cant keep them in Bangladesh, this isn't their land.”
  • Raze helps 18 year old Rohingya refugee Yasmin Akhter with her application to the Asian University for Women.Razia Sultana was born in Myanmar but is a Bangladesh citizen. She grew up in Chittagong in the tight knit Rohingya community. Her dream was always to be a barrister but after she was married her husbands family didn't approve of her studying further. {quote}My life is full of struggle{quote} She and her family were involved with the Rohingya activist groups ARNO and BRC, and in 2009 the Bangladesh government shut the organizations down. Two of her family members were put in jail and into exile abroad. {quote}The influx broke me totally. I was sick and traumatized and full of feat in my heart. I couldn't control myself. My friends and family asked me what I wanted and I said that I have to do something for women. That was the start. I gave up everything to work for my nation, to get them their rights, their human rights. What's been going on is wrong.{quote} She has since trained hundreds of women in livelihood and literacy training. {quote}There is no life in the camps, they have become a burden for the world. If there is no skills training, no education, they will become subhumans! They’re deprived of all opportunities and denied a normal life. They will become desperate and you can't blame them or anybody , it's like you're creating a bomb! They're frustrated and cant think wrong or right. We have to prevent this, we have to solve the issue of going back, you cant keep them in Bangladesh, this isn't their land.”
  • On 16th July 2019, UN Women Bangladesh - in partnership with Oxfam in Bangladesh, ActionAid Bangladesh, Legal Action Worldwide and RW Welfare Society-RWWS - invited the UN Resident Coordinator and organized a gathering of Rohingya Women Leaders from new and old camps representing their different women’s leader networks, both some self-organised and some organized in collaboration with INGOs/UN, in the UN Women Multi-Purpose Women Centre in the Rohingya refugee camp 4, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to discuss common challenges, issues, demands and how to come together under one network to plan joint action to address these together for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.{quote}If men have two arms, women have two arms too. We didn’t know we have rights before, but we have now learned about equality and discrimination, and will demand that our rights be respected” said one Rohingya Women leader. “I am so happy to be able to express myself like this today”, said another with a big smile on her face.One Rohingya woman leader explained that the challenge they face is sometimes men from the community “you are a Muslim woman, why are you doing these things? It is written in the Quran that women shouldn’t do these things” they tell us. I then sit with them and tell them “Okay, show me, where is it written?” Because I think they are interpreting it differently and I believe that women work even in Saudi Arabia, so why cannot we work?”These Rohingya leaders fight dowry, child marriage, domestic violence, polygamy as well as conflict related sexual and gender based violence and overall injustices and barriers Rohingya women and girls face and promote their right to justice, education, services, decision making and economic opportunities.
  • Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
  • Intro
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    • Meghalaya; Where Women Rule
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      • "I'm Better Than Before, But Inside My Heart Lies So Much Pain"
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