Rohingya Women in Malaysia: Decision-Making and Information Sharing in the Course of Irregular Migration

Abstract

The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Professor Brigid Laffan, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society.The Centre is home to a large post-doctoral programme and hosts major research programmes and projects, and a range of working groups and ad hoc initiatives. The research agenda is organised around a set of core themes and is continuously evolving, reflecting the changing agenda of European integration and the expanding membership of the European Union. Most of these are also available on the RSCAS website: http://www.eui.eu/RSCAS/Publications/ The EUI and the RSCAS are not responsible for the opinion expressed by the author(s). The Global Governance Programme at the EUIThe Global Governance Programme is one of the flagship programmes of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute (EUI). It aims to: build a community of outstanding professors and scholars, produce high quality research and, engage with the world of practice through policy dialogue. At the Global Governance Programme, established and early career scholars research, write on and discuss, within and beyond academia, issues of global governance, focussing on four broad and interdisciplinary areas: European, Transnational and Global Governance; Global Economics; Europe in the World; and Cultural Pluralism.The Programme also aims to contribute to the fostering of present and future generations of policy and decision makers through its unique executive training programme, the Academy of Global Governance, where theory and "real world" experience meet. At the Academy, executives, policy makers, diplomats, officials, private sector professionals and academics, have the opportunity to meet, share views and debate with leading academics, top-level officials, heads of international organisations and senior executives, on topical issues relating to governance.For more information: http://globalgovernanceprogramme.eui.eu AbstractThis paper presents major findings of a project focused on the experiences of Rohingya women in Malaysia, categorised as 'irregular migrants'. Malaysia has become a key destination and country of transit for many Rohingya fleeing Myanmar. The paper presents and analyses the influences on decision-making; the role of family; information sources used and their trustworthiness and gendered violence. The fieldwork was conducted in late 2015, including 350 surveys and 35 in-depth interviews. The research findings reveal a range of factors that affect the lives of Rohingya women and their families before and during journeys, as well as in Malaysia. These factors affect planning for the future and decision for onward migration. The paper discusses the details of decision-making and information sharing during migration journeys and provides analysis of women's choices and the factors that condition decision-making. Given that onward journey...

Stuck in transit: asylum-seeking habitus and onward migration aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers in Bangkok

“…They began to acknowledge the importance of understanding the stages of these journeys and the decisions asylum-seekers make within their journeys often have significant impacts on their life course (Kuschminder & Waidler, 2019). The past decade of transit migration research showed that migratory decision making for asylum-seekers is not a single process but rather a series of unstable processes that varies over time and space (Düvell et al, 2013;Mallett & Hagen-Zanker, 2018;Schapendonk, 2012;Tazreiter et al, 2017). Each segment of the journey brings new challenges and risks and needs the asylum-seekers to make new adjustments.…”

Information Sharing and Decision-Making: Attempts by Ghanaian Return Migrants to Enter through Libya

“…In this study, I operationalize irregular return migrants as those who have made one or more trips outside their home country and have returned to the home country, using routes considered dangerous to travelers. In view of the important role information plays to migrants, migration researchers have long identified how everyday word-of-mouth facilitates information sharing (Case, 2012;Pettigrew, Fidel, & Bruce, 2001;Sin & Kim, 2013;Tazreiter, Pickering, & Powell, 2017). Other studies have focused on emerging virtual practices, rapidly transforming social media and network usage, and migration information from search engines (Sin & Kim, 2013;Thulin & Wilhelmson, 2015).…”

Asylum Seekers’ and Refugees’ Decision-Making in Transit in Indonesia

“…Studies undertaken in the last ten years show that migratory decisionmaking for forcibly displaced migrants is not a single process but rather a series of unstable processes that change over time and space (Schapendonk 2012;Düvell, Wissink and van Eerdewijk 2013;Mallett and Hagen-Zanker 2018;Tazreiter, Pickering and Powell 2017). Journeys in search of safety and protection often tend to not only be lengthy but also fragmented (Collyer 2010).…”