PART 1
STATELESSNESS & TRAFFICKING:
THE INTERSECTIONS
“
What the Rohingya community is facing in terms of trafficking, detention and exploitation is
linked to the statelessness that has been forced on them. The dangerous sea and land journeys
Rohingyas are compelled to or forced to take are just because the Rohingyas don’t have travel
documents. And they don’t have livelihood opportunities in Myanmar or Bangladesh. They
also don’t have development opportunities including education or life skills development in
refugee camps in Bangladesh or Myanmar. For example, many women who are being trafficked
to Malaysia go there just to get married. If they had a travel document from Myanmar, they
wouldn’t have to take risky journeys. They are forced to. That’s where the exploitation begins.”
ROHINGYA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER, INDIA
Findings from our research show 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.
Part 1 of this paper explores these findings by examining six intersections between statelessness and trafficking.
1.1 Persecution
They (Arakan Army and Myanmar security
forces) do not want Rohingya in Rakhine State
and they cannot drive us out. So, many people
feel that is why they are helping those human
smugglers if the Rohingya want to go outside.
ROHINGYA MAN, SITTWE
Both the denial of Rohingya citizenship in Myanmar,
and experiences of trafficking, are strongly linked
to broader patterns of persecution. The lack
of citizenship in Myanmar is not only linked to
Rohingyas lack state protection, it also restricts them
to geographical pockets in Rakhine state where they
are subjected to a legal framework of persecution
8
and apartheid.7 In 2017, Rohingyas suffered forms
of state violence that are widely accepted to amount
to genocide.8 Citizenship and recognition of their
ethnic identity by the state is understood by Rohingya
communities to be inextricably linked to safety and
security. As such restoration of Rohingya citizenship
has been consistently articulated by refugee leaders
as a pre-condition of voluntary repatriation from
Bangladesh to Myanmar.9 The restrictions of
movement in Myanmar and the denial of citizenship
documents, together with endemic corruption enables
conditions in which smuggling within and out of
Myanmar is a lucrative business, and exploitation and
abuse by both state actors and other brokers/agents
goes unchallenged.10 Only approximately 20-30% of
Rohingyas attempting to leave Bangladesh or Rakhine
across land for Malaysia or elsewhere in Southeast
Asia make it as far as the Thai-Myanmar border.11
Many are either abandoned by brokers or arrested