Meet our new PhD research fellow

Naureen Rahim is about to take up her new PhD research fellowship with the BEYOND project. She is excited to build on her previous research engagement with Rohingya refugees to study the relationship between Bangladesh and the international refugee regime.

Portrait of Naureen Rahim.

Naureen Rahim has vast experience in researching the situation of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Photo: private.

Case study on Bangladesh

As a BEYOND PhD research fellow, Naureen Rahim will embark on an in-depth case study of Bangladesh's relationship with the international refugee regime. The coming years she will be conducting desk research, as well as lengthier field research in Bangladesh, and a research visit to the UNHCR archives in Geneva.

Interest in International Law

Rahim completed her Master of Laws at the University of Geneva, Switzerland in 2019. She also holds a Masters in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The last few years she has been working as Coordinator at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice at the Liberation War Museum is Bangladesh, where she supervised research projects documenting mass atrocity crimes and their implications under international law.

She has also taught International Humanitarian Law at the Dhaka International University and the Jahangirnagar University.

Rahim is excited to pursue her interest in international law by exploring how international refugee law is conceived and practiced in Bangladesh, a state non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention:

– I am hopeful that from this project, together we will be able to explore national legislation and practices which have been arguably shaping the foundational basis and growth of international refugee law regime, Rahim says.

  • Documenting mass atrocity crimes

  • Rahim enters the BEYOND project with vast experience in researching the Rohingya plight. In her previous work at the Liberation War Museum in Bangladesh, Rahim was involved in documenting the mass atrocity crimes against the Rohingyas.

  • In 2017-2018, she led a group of young researchers collecting testimonies from Rohingya survivors of Myanmar’s atrocity crimes, in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar.

    A main motivation to join the BEYOND project was the opportunity to build on her previous research engagement with the Rohingya refugees. She now intends to explore Bangladesh’s response to Rohingya refugees in light of international refugee law.

  • A history of displacement

  • Rahim recalls that although Bangladesh is a non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, the country currently hosts around a million Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar.

    She thinks Bangladesh’s own history with displacement contributes to shape its response to Rohingya refugees seeking refuge within its borders:

  • – During the Bangladeshi independence struggle in 1971, millions of Bengali population were forced to flee the military persecution taking shelter in refugee camps in some of the border areas of Bangladesh-India, Rahim explains.
  • Moving to Oslo

  • Rahim is in the process of relocating to Oslo to join the rest of the BEYOND research team. She is excited to become a part of the University of Oslo and get to know colleagues in Oslo and elsewhere. Once in Oslo, Rahim looks forward to learn more about her new country of residence:

  • – I hope to explore the Norwegian culture, learn their language and travel through the countryside, Rahim says.

By Nora Milch
Published Apr. 8, 2022 10:33 AM - Last modified May 15, 2023 11:35 AM