Sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar and the gendered impact of its ethnic conflicts in English 215. The forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Bangladesh, much of which was accompanied by sexual and gender-based violence, is having negative consequences on the rights of girls, with a greater number of early marriages. 469 216. Parents in refugee camps in Bangladesh are marrying their daughters, below the legal age of 18. This is recognized as a harmful coping mechanism for girls who were raped, to preserve the honour of family. This, however, tends to increase the risks of gender-based violence against them.470 The Mission received credible reports that the mean age of registered child marriages has decreased from 15.8 years in 2017 to 14.1 years in 2019, with the youngest recorded age of nine years-old. During this same period it was reported that 30 per cent of all child marriage cases were of unaccompanied or separated children. An increase of 3.1 percent in child marriages was reported between 2018 and 2019.471 Early marriages limit the development of girls and often result in early pregnancy and social isolation.472 In some cases, families see child marriages as a form of protection and security from rape, although such forms of protection may make girls vulnerable to rape and other forms of sexual violence in the home.473 217. Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence are often affected by the killing or disappearance of their spouses.474 Many are now head of households, faced with uncertainty about their futures and vulnerable to further violations, including sexual violence. 218. Women and children are the majority in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. 475 Although immediate risk to their lives has been reduced, they still suffer gender-based violence and the consequences of gender-based violence linked to the displacement and harmful practices. According to experts in the field, some men exhibit violence and controlling tendencies towards women.476 Gendered threats against females abound, with community leaders, spouses or parents calling on women to stop working. Some women think their husbands abandoned them because they worked.477 219. Since the Rohingya do not have the status of refugees in Bangladesh,478 women have limited recourse to formal justice when faced with violence in the camps. Gender violence tends to be suffered in silence, as most do not report it for fear of exacerbating the situation. The Mission spoke to humanitarian workers, service providers and agencies on the ground who confirmed the limitations that women experience in the camps due to customs and harmful cultural practices.479 220. The emergence of ‘shanti khana’, designated spaces for women and girls with focus group discussions on life skill trainings and empowerment of women, have had a positive impact in the lives of women in the camps.480 Nevertheless more advocacy is needed to 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 50 https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/rr-rohingya-refugee-response-gender-analysis010818-en.pdf, p.11. NM-003, NI-014, NI-018, NI-019, S/2019/280 (29 March 2019) para.70. UNHCR Review, “Culture, context and mental health of Rohingya Refugees” (2018), p.19. NM-003.The information is indicative of child marriage cases in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, and does not necessarily represent such marriages within the camp wide population, to determine the prevalence of child marriages, as some cases are not reported. The reasons attributed to the rise in marriages include the lack of secondary education and adequate alternatives for girls, and the restrictions on cash and livelihood opportunities, which lead people to resort to negative coping mechanisms. CRC, art. 29. NI-014, NI-018, NI-019. NM-003. EI-107, EI-105, DI-077. Inter-Sectoral Coordination Group : situation report (as of March 2019) reported that of 902, 225 refugees in camps in Bangladesh 52 % are women and 55 % children. Confidential forensic expert report for the IIFFMM, 9 June 2018, NM-004. NI-014, NI-021. NM-002 The host country, Bangladesh is not signatory to the Refugee Convention of 1951. NI-021, NM-002, Protection agencies NM-002, Asia Development Bank, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, United Nations Development Programme “Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in Myanmar.” A situation analysis (2016). See also United