Sexual and gender-based violence against the Rohingya must be understood as part of a longer history of exclusion, persecution, and forced displacement. In Myanmar, the Rohingya have been denied citizenship, restricted in movement, and subjected to repeated waves of violence that reached a major turning point during the 2016–2017 military operations in Rakhine State. Reports of killings, village destruction, mass displacement, and widespread sexual violence show that abuses against Rohingya women and girls were tied to a broader system of intimidation and control.
The crisis did not end when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. In refugee camps, insecurity has taken new forms through overcrowded shelters, weak legal protection, poverty, unsafe sanitation facilities, trafficking networks, forced marriage, domestic violence, and limited access to services. This report argues that effective protection must go beyond short-term humanitarian assistance by combining safer camp conditions, trauma-informed care, legal accountability, anti-trafficking measures, education, livelihood opportunities, and the direct participation of Rohingya women and girls.
