Perceptions Across ProfessionA Snapshot into Bangladeshi Professionals’ Perceptions of Rohingya Refugees

In partnership with BRAC Advocacy for Social Change (ASC), the project explored the perceptions of Bangladeshis engaged in a range of professions who were purposely sampled across 28 districts within eight divisions of Bangladesh.

Background: 2023 marks the sixth year of the Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh that has assumed, by all measures, a protracted form. As the international community turns its gaze to other refugee crises, Bangladesh, one of the world’s most densely populated countries, scheduled to graduate from ‘least developed country’ status in 2026 (UNGA, 2021), continues to host over a million Rohingya refugees in its impoverished south-eastern tip. The aggressive and alarming depletion of funds from the international community has left the system set in place by principal stakeholders to alleviate the plight of Rohingyas refugees reeling at the seams. A keen observer may sense the simmering tensions between the host and refugee communities and likely sense a change in perceptions, particularly within the hosts, if one strikes up a conversation with someone living near refugee camps in Bangladesh’s south-east. As subsequent paragraphs of this study shall reveal, there are reasons to believe that the ‘othering’ of the Rohingya people by Bangladeshis is very real. 

The project, with a duration from February 2023 to December 2023, is in partnership with BRAC Advocacy for Social Change (ASC). For communication and further details, please reach out to Dr. M Sanjeeb Hossain, Director of Research, at CPJ, BRAC University ([email protected]).