Exploring Safety, Gender, and Health and Well-being Concerns: Participatory Research with Rohingya Adoelscent Refugees and Asylum-Seekers

PATHWAY: International Development, Health and Wellbeing

BACKGROUND: Following systematic persecution and denial of citizenship in Myanmar, many Rohingya people fled to neighbouring countries, including Malaysia since the 1990s. Conflict-induced forced migration contributes to substantial levels of mortality and poor health and well-being (HWB), particularly associated with risks of violence. Family disruption erodes available protection and provision, pushing many Rohingya adolescent boys into informal work. Rohingya adolescent girls face heightened risks of gender-based violence, for instance through trafficking or smuggling into Malaysia for early marriage, with detrimental HWB consequences from teenage pregnancy complications. As Malaysia is a non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, their lack of legal status gives rise to specific child protection concerns in this protracted urban refugee situation. These include compounding threats of detention by immigration authorities, exclusion from formal education and employment, and limited access to healthcare and justice. Yet, there has been little research examining child protection and HWB concerns privileging the gendered perspectives of Rohingya adolescents themselves.


METHODS: This research aims to explore safety, gender, and HWB concerns among Rohingya adolescents between 10-24 years old in Malaysia using a youth-centred participatory approach. Firstly, stakeholder consultations and fieldwork reflections enable critical analyses of ethical issues in participatory research with this population to ensure safe research conduct in the absence of local guidelines. Secondly, multimodal qualitative research explores Rohingya adolescents' gendered experiences and perceptions of safety, violence, and coping strategies, through: (i) participatory action research to co-design a safe space community event for girls; (ii) training-based research consultation workshops with mix-gendered youth representatives, (iii) focus group discussions; and (iv) semi-structured interviews. Thirdly, a secondary analysis of a survey among Rohingya adolescents in Bangladesh will examine the HWB impact of social issues prioritised by Rohingya adolescents in Malaysia. Finally, findings will be triangulated to conceptualise "safety", via theory elaboration using Galtung's conceptualisation of "violence" as a point of departure.

CORE SKILLS REQUIRED:
Research ethics involving vulnerable children and young people
Collaborative research across academia and third-sector organisations
Cross-cultural community engagement
Youth-centred participatory approach
Multimodal qualitative data collection and analysis
Mixed methods for interdisciplinary research

INTENDED IMPACT: This research addresses UN SDG 16.2 (end violence against children), 10.7 (facilitate orderly, safe and responsible migration), and 5 (gender equality). This research seeks to involve refugee adolescents with lived experience in generating evidence to strengthen local child protection and adolescent HWB programming. Including the voices and self-representation of Rohingya adolescents in the migration narrative and service design upholds adolescents' right to be heard in matters affecting them.

KEYWORDS: child protection, safety, violence, adolescent health and wellbeing, gender, refugee and asylum-seeker, youth-centred participatory research, urban refugee, global health, LMIC