“ It is crucial that Rohingya women and girls are educated so that we can raise our voices, realise our rights and contribute to our communities, especially when we get our homelands back. Parents sometimes fear sending their girls to school – especially because of the violence they have faced back home in Myanmar. The fear stays with them. In India the living conditions can be overcrowded and the household income is not stable and not enough. So parents want their children to work and get married sooner because they cannot support everybody. But the greatest barrier we faced in getting education is that we do not have documents, so it’s hard to get admission. Documents are needed for everything. Because we are stateless, we have to work harder and face more barriers than others. TASMIDA JOHAR the wet markets during the pandemic, with ID checks being implemented on entry to the markets. This also affects livelihoods and food security since many Rohingya work in the markets. Such discrimination and the loss of income have created precarious living situations for Rohingya, many of whom face eviction from their rental homes. This has caused homeless Rohingya to move in with other families, creating conditions of overcrowding and thus increasing the risk of COVID-19. Over one million Myanmar nationals work in Thailand. They have been able to regularise their work and legal status through joint Thai-Myanmar verification processes. They obtain certificates of identity as Myanmar nationals through consular services in Thailand, which enable them to apply for Thai work permits. Rohingya however are denied identity certificates by Burmese authorities and are therefore unable to regularise their status in Thailand. As in India and Malaysia, working in precarious work in the informal economy, they have been disproportionately impacted by unemployment and loss of livelihood with no social security or safety net to fall back on. Health insurance in Thailand is tied to work permits, which often leaves Rohingya unable to access affordable healthcare, which is of particular concern during times of the pandemic. 11