SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Rohingya community has survived genocide in Myanmar. They also continue to face an onward struggle to survive the debilitating socio-economic conditions of refugee and IDP camps, further persecution and discrimination, and the risks associated with travelling in search of physical and socio-economic security. They are vulnerable to trafficking for different forms of exploitation and to human rights violations resulting from a lack of state protections. This paper considers the additional layers of vulnerability that arise from the discriminatory and arbitrary denial of citizenship in their home country, Myanmar, and denial of legal status in the countries to which they fled. Based on qualitative research in Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Malaysia, the paper joins up the issues across different country contexts, revealing that each family’s search for peace and security often spans multiple countries and multiple generations. Methodology This paper finds that statelessness should not simply be viewed as a cause or consequence of trafficking. Rather it is an intersectional factor that compounds the risks of exploitation and other human rights abuses at the hands of both brokers and state authorities. This includes abduction, extortion, forced labour and other forms of labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, torture, death, arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention and refoulement. Further, the intergenerational nature of Rohingya displacement and statelessness creates barriers to securing durable solutions. The risks of further exploitation or trafficking are therefore sustained across lifetimes and across different generations. The research indicates that statelessness increases the likelihood of trafficking outcomes; compounds the negative impact of experiences of exploitation; and leaves victims exposed to continued risks and vulnerabilities to further trafficking. Our research includes a focus on the gendered experiences of both statelessness and trafficking. The majority of interviews were with women, conducted in women-only spaces by other women in Rohingya, Burmese or Hindi languages. Interviews were carefully designed to be sensitive to experiences of trauma and as such to not ask women to recount personal experiences of trauma. Since the research was conducted in conflict-affected areas and refugee settings, we developed a strong ethical framework to minimalize risk. We ensure the security of data, and the anonymity of research participants and, where necessary, researchers. This paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 outlines six issues that lie at the intersections of statelessness and trafficking experiences: persecution; socioeconomic insecurities; lack of access to regular and safe migration; lack of legal protections and detention; lack of access to safe and decent work; and intergenerational statelessness. Part 2 explores the experiences of Rohingyas in different country contexts: Myanmar; Bangladesh; India; and Malaysia. The paper’s recommendations highlight the importance of ensuring that the specific vulnerabilities of stateless people are factored into anti-trafficking initiatives and international protection frameworks. This research is collaborative and centres the knowledge and analysis of local and Rohingya researchers and community workers. Data was collected and analysed from qualitative research amongst Rohingya populations in four countries. This includes: 30 in-depth interviews with Rohingyas in Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Malaysia; detailed observations and reports over six months from four Rohingya researchers living in four different areas of Rakhine State Myanmar; and the analysis of Rohingya key workers in Malaysia, Bangladesh, India and in diaspora. It further draws on discussions from two multi-country focus groups with Rohingya community workers organised by ISI in support of the 2023 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons especially women and children. Background The Rohingya are an ethnic community belonging to Rakhine State in Myanmar, whose histories in Rakhine, now in the territory of Myanmar, long pre-date modern nation-states and borders. The Rohingya’s arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of nationality by Myanmar, which was initiated under military rule, is a key element in the decadeslong persecution and genocide perpetrated against the community. The persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and their lack of protection as refugees outside Myanmar are strongly linked to Myanmar’s systematic imposition of statelessness on Rohingyas. Myanmar’s 1982 ethno-centric and exclusionary Citizenship Law, together with the arbitrary implementation of citizenship rules, provided a 5