Paper short abstract:

What the forcibly displaced people themselves perceive as dignity? Based on empirical evidence collected from displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan, this paper aims to reveal how dignity is perceived in the context of displacements.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on understanding how displaced people perceive dignity. In doing so, empirical evidence from the displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar now living in Bangladesh and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan are contrasted with how dignity is being conceptualised in existing social science literature. Rohingyas in Bangladesh and IDPs in Afghanistan represent two of the largest groups of displaced people in the current world. The sheer volume of these groups along with their needs for support, coordination of humanitarian activities and regional/global politics clearly manifest that they pose one of the critical development challenges of the current time. We have observed these groups in their present living conditions, heard their stories and seen how different social and political actors can treat them as a 'burden'. We argue that, for effective and sustainable resolutions for these vulnerable groups, it is important for academic researchers as well as policy practitioners to discern what they perceive as dignity and a dignified solution for the crisis they are now living in.