GBV trends among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar

In June 2020, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) released a report entitled The Shadow Pandemic: Gender-based violence among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Using data collected from IRC women’s centres and health programme sites between July and December 2019, the IRC found that despite the enormous social, cultural, and psychological barriers women and girls must overcome when reporting incidents, prior to the onset of COVID-19, one in four women and girls screened in Cox’s Bazar was a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV). This update brief offers new data from IRC and partner programme sites from January - October 2020, a period of time in which women and girls “faced an increase in unpaid care work, greater protection risks in and out of their homes, and mental health issues, while simultaneously being less able to access lifesaving services and support” (JRP). IRC screening data for this period suggests that despite the significant pre-existing barriers to reporting incidents of GBV outlined in our June Shadow Pandemic report, and in the face of the substantial new barriers posed by COVID-19, reported rates of GBV among Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar remain shockingly high, particularly among women and girls in their own homes.