From May to September 2023 Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) and the Liberation War Museum (LWM) conducted a series of participatory discussions with young people living in camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. AJAR and LWM have been working to strengthen resilience and empower survivors through human rights education and dialogue. Using participatory approaches, Rohingya refugees take part in storytelling, building their listening and facilitation skills, and strengthening their knowledge of the right to justice.
AJAR and LWM trained 25 young facilitators (13 women and 12 men) on participatory tools to discuss human rights, justice and atrocity response. Most were born in Myanmar and have personally or indirectly witnessed atrocities that occurred in their homeland and have since been driven out of Myanmar to become refugees in Bangladesh. Subsequently, they reached out to approximately 69 of their peers, facilitating dialogue and documenting emerging themes.
This participatory research had two main objectives: (i) to deepen understanding of the strategies used by young Rohingya refugees to respond to, and recover from, the impact of atrocities experienced in Myanmar; and (ii) to support capacity development of young Rohingya women and men and raise awareness of the root cause of these atrocities. And by so doing, strengthening community resilience and engagement with initiatives that respond to, and prevent the recurrence, of such atrocities.