Citizenship Nationalism And Refugeehood Of Rohingyas In Southern Asia

This book provides an in-depth investigation of citizenship and nationalism in connection with the Rohingya community. It analyses the processes of production of statelessness in South Asia in general, and with regard to the Rohingyas in particular. Following the persecution of the Rohingya community in Myanmar (Burma) by the military and the Buddhist militia, a host of texts, mostly descriptive, have examined the historical, political and cultural roots of the genocidal massacre and the flight of its victims to South Asia and South-East Asian countries. The UNHCR reports describe the plight of Rohingyas during and after their journey, while other works focus on the political-economic roots of this ethnic conflict and its consequences for the Rohingyas. To date, very few theoretical insights have been provided on the Rohingya issue. This book seeks to fill that gap, and explores a dialogue between the state and its citizens and non-citizens that results in the production of statelessness. In theoretical terms, the book addresses the construction of citizens and non-citizens on the part of the state, and the process of symbolic othering, achieved through various state practices couched in terms of nationalism. Extensive case studies from India, Myanmar and Bangladesh provide the foundation for a robust theoretical argument. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to students, academics and researchers with a focus on political economy in South Asia in general and/or refugee studies in particular.

This book examines forced migration of two refugees groups in South Asia. The author discusses the claims of “belonging” of refugees, and asserts that in practice “belonging” can extend beyond the state-centric understanding of membership in South Asian states. She addresses two sets of interrelated questions: what factors determine whether refugees are relocated to their home countries in South Asia, and why do some repatriated groups re-integrate more successfully than others in “post-peace” South Asian states? This book answers these questions through a study of refugees from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who sought asylum in India and were later relocated to their countries of origin. Since postcolonial societies have a typical kind of state-formation, in South Asia’s case this has profoundly shaped questions of belonging and membership. The debate tends to focus on citizenship, making it a benchmark to demarcate inclusion and exclusion in South Asian states. In addition to qualitative analysis, this book includes narratives of Sri Lankan and Chakma refugees in post-conflict and post-peace Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, and critiques the impact of macro policies from the bottom up.

The Rohingya of Myanmar are one of the world’s most persecuted minority populations without citizenship. After the latest exodus from Myanmar in 2017, there are now more than half a million Rohingya in Bangladesh living in camps, often in conditions of abject poverty, malnutrition and without proper access to shelter or work permits. Some of them are now compelled to take to the seas in perilous journeys to the Southeast Asian countries in search of a better life. They are now asked to go back to Myanmar, but without any promise of citizenship or an end to discrimination. This book looks at the Rohingya in the South Asian region, primarily India and Bangladesh. It explores the broader picture of the historical and political dimensions of the Rohingya crisis, and examines subjects of statelessness, human rights and humanitarian protection of these victims of forced migration. Further, it chronicles the actual process of emergence of a stateless community – the transformation of a national group into a stateless existence without basic rights.

Europe is a broad and multifaceted construct, variously understood as a geographical, political, legal, institutional, social, or cultural formation. It is characterized by numerous conflicts and processes of negotiation that have accompanied or sustained the development of normative orders and divergent conceptions of law, both in relation to individual states and to Europe as a whole. The same applies to the field of literature, language, and aesthetics; numerous myths and ideologies have shaped today’s understanding of Europe and still support it today. This volume examines how such processes were legally structured, and literarily addressed, criticized, and complemented. Its interdisciplinary perspective and open and dynamic, both dialogical and dialectical format intends to replicate the fragmented, sometimes conflicting, but always productive mosaic of voices, ideas, and concepts that have constituted and still constitute Europe, whether in the past, present, or future. Instead of resolving any of the complexities and contradictions that frame discussions on law, literature, and Europe, it aims to induce further engagement and confrontations with new and alternative visions of Europe.

The purpose of this book is to critically examine the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the eve of its 20th year of existence, with a focus on its relationship to the Rohingya crisis. This book is unique in that it identifies the potential and contemporary challenges of the ICC while focusing on the relationship between the Rohingya issue and the ICC. The relationship between the Rohingya crisis and the ICC is an issue that is fraught with contemporary challenges and worth dealing with. The relationship between the ICC and non-State Parties and the relationship between the ICC and high government officials are the examples of these challenges. Its novelty is to address the relationship between the Rohingya crisis and the ICC by staying current of information. The human rights situation of the Rohingya is of high international concern. With a case pending at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), not only individual criminal responsibility but also State responsibility may be sought for the most serious human rights violations. The Rohingya crisis itself is of great international concern, and it is expected that the issues will be discussed from the perspective of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. Therefore, the structure of this book is as follows. First, it explains the history of the Rohingya crisis. Secondly, it touches on the relationship between the Rohingya crisis and the ICC. Thirdly, the book discusses the relationship between the ongoing case of Gambia v. Myanmar at the ICJ and the proceedings of the ICC. Finally, the book concludes with an assessment of the legitimacy, effectiveness, and efficiency of the ICC in recent years.

This book offers a comprehensive depiction of the causes and consequences of the Rohingya crisis, based on detailed ethnographic narratives provided by hundreds of Rohingya people who crossed the border following the Clearance Operation in 2017. The author critically engages with the identity politics on both sides of the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, and the categorisation of the Rohingya as the people of ‘no-man’s land’ amidst the socio-political and ethno-nationalist dynamics of colonial and postcolonial transition in the region. He then interrogates the role of the international community and aid industry, before providing in-depth policy recommendations based on his own experience working with Rohingya refugees. The book will be of interest to students, scholars, policymakers and NGOs in the fields of migration studies, anthropology, political science and international relations.

Delving into the past and present of various secessionist movements in Northeast India, political conflict in Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, a political movement for autonomy in Darjeeling hills in Eastern India, and the Rohingya migration crisis affecting India and Bangladesh, this book examines the volatile co-existence of competing population groups in Eastern South Asia. Through the conceptual lens of the ‘home’ and feeling of ‘homeland’ in Eastern South Asia, the authors seek answers to three complex but interrelated questions: why is Eastern South Asia facing so many political movements and conflicts? How have the political movements affected the region and people? Why is the number of migrants in this region so high? Answers to these questions are vital to those studying South Asia and interested in understanding this region.

This book presents thirteen chapters which probe the “tales less told” and “pathways less traveled” in refugee camp living. Rohingya camps in Bangladesh since August 2017 supply these “tales” and “pathways”. They dwell upon/reflect camp violence, sexual/gender discrimination, intersectionality, justice, the sudden COVID camp entry, human security, children education, innovation, and relocation plans. Built largely upon field trips, these narratives interestingly interweave with both theoretical threads (hypotheses) and tapestries (net-effects), feeding into the security-driven pulls of political realism, or disseminating from humanitarian-driven socioeconomic pushes, but mostly combining them. Post-ethnic cleansing and post-exodus windows open up a murky future for Rohingya and global refugees. We learn of positive offshoots (of camp innovations exposing civil society relevance) and negative (like human and sex trafficking beyond Bangladeshi and Myanmar borders), as of navigating (a) local–global linkages of every dynamic and (b) fast-moving current circumstances against stoic historical leftovers.