Impact of Forcibly Displaced People's Identity Crisis on Host State’s Security: The Case of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

Abstract

A long-term ethnic conflict between the Rohingya Muslim and Buddhist Rakhine communities, the legal exclusion of the Rohingya from the 1982 Citizenship Act, and various forms of discrimination for decades in Myanmar led the Rohingya population to become stateless in their own country and fall into an identity crisis. The study explores how Rohingya refugees fall into the identity crisis and analyzes how they threaten Bangladesh's state security and destroy the state's global image. Using desk-based research, the study found that the identity crisis of Rohingya refugees encouraged them to seek alternative ways of getting Bangladeshi passports and flights worldwide as Bangladeshi nationals, creating an image crisis for Bangladesh through their illegal activities. Focusing on how vulnerable Rohingya refugees are and looking at the security tensions within the hosting state, the study recommends changes to make identity policies for people who have been forced to move.