This report based on the findings of an assessment that aimed at improving the understanding of key factors affecting the newly arrived Rohingya as well as the established refugee community and the host communities to access justice systems in Bangladesh. The report outlines the current context, the existing legal framework of the Rohingya in Bangladesh and key actors with influencing access to justice mechanisms.

The International Rescue Committee and Relief International carried out a multi-sector assessment to understand the urgent needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Only the second needs assessment of the Rohingya refugee crisis to be completed, it reveals the scale of the crisis faced by the estimated half a million people arriving in Bangladesh, fleeing conflict in Rakhine State.

In 2017, atrocities by the Myanmar military drove over 850,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, where they continue to live in temporary settlements today. Over the past four years, as conditions inside the refugee camps have deteriorated, the host community in Teknaf and Ukhiya—who generously welcomed refugees in 2017—have seemingly grown wary of their protracted presence. Intensifying environmental, economic and social impacts linked to continued Rohingya displacement have raised tensions, and studies since 2019 have documented declining social cohesion between refugee and host communities.  This study, undertaken by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), in collaboration with researchers at Dhaka University (DU), assesses the challenges and opportunities to social cohesion in the Rohingya context. The report maps out social tension across five issue areas: environment and ecology; labour market; cultural and political landscape; land; and the presence of the humanitarian community.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a pandemic which violates human rights across communities around the world. Rohingya women and girls who fled to Bangladesh following severe rights violations enacted upon them by the Myanmar military in 2017 continue to live with the threat of violence in Cox’s Bazar. Data from the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) programmes demonstrates that the risks they face are likely to be compounded by the spread of COVID-19 and the steps taken to mitigate against it.