ASILE Civil Society Group

Rohingya Women Welfare Society – Bangladesh

Description of organisation  

Rohingya Women Welfare Society (RWWS) in Bangladesh has the following aims: 

  • To raise awareness About Child and Women Trafficking.
    RWWS is creating awareness among the people of Bangladeshi citizen and Rohingya Refugees, about the horrors of human trafficking. RWWS’ goal is to reduce human trafficking of refugees in Bangladesh through raising awareness on both sides.
  • To provide psychosocial assistance to Refugee women.
    Especially the women who have experienced rape, gender-based violence and have been suffering unbearable psychological turmoil for months in refugee camps, must be given psychosocial help so that they can gradually cope with this situation. 
  • To provide healthcare Support for Refugees.
    RWWS is providing health care to the Rohingya Refugees in Myanmar, clean water, food, and, Mobile Medical Support, Medicines and other supplies. Not only will this project save hundreds of refugees lives but it will create a community attitude shift. 
  • Women Empowerment.
    RWWS strategy to empower unprivileged women in every sector of life and also a motive to unleash some educational skills. 

Besides medical and material support and awareness raising campaigns about human trafficking in various refugee camps in Bangladesh, RWWS been providing psychosocial support for Rohingya Women. The project responded to the needs of Rohingya women, who were victims of the violence and the easy prey for the rioters and Myanmar army. Therefore, RW Welfare Society (RWWS) provides counseling to traumatized women and supporting them to recover. RWWS organized a campaign for counseling traumatize Rohingya women at Hakimpur Rohingya Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. 

Staff Profile

Ms. Razia Sultana

Founder of Rohingya Women Welfare Society (RWWS 

Ms Razia Sultana is Rohingya refugee herself. She is also a practicing lawyer at Chittagong district court, Bangladesh and also a teacher at Little Jewels School.  As educator and researcher she has been specializing in trauma, mass rape, and trafficking of Rohingya girls and women. She has been working directly with Rohingya women and girls in the refugee camps in Bangladesh since 2014. Since 2016, she has interviewed hundreds of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh for research documenting sexual violence and rape.

As a senior researcher, she has worked with Kalandan Press she has published two reports “Witness to Horror” in 2017 and “Rape by Command” in 2018 documenting systematic sexual violence perpetrated by Myanmar security forces. against Rohingya women.  The latter report detailed the rape of over 300 women and girls and shows clearly the systematic use of rape by the Myanmar Army as a weapon against the Rohingya. She is also a Human Rights Advocate on Rohingya issues.  She is a coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition, Director of Arakan Rohingya National Organization’s (ARNO) women section. She has also founded an organisation in Bangladesh called the Rohingya Women Welfare Society (RWWS) which is working to prevent human trafficking and build psychosocial resilience among refugee women.  In 2019, Razia Sultana has been nominated among 10 extraordinary women from around the world of this year’s International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award, recognizing her role in advancing human rights.