In 2020–21, Saferworld completed our four-year UK-funded programme supporting constructive bilateral engagement between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Pakistan and India. The programme has ensured conflict prevention and management across the India–Pakistan bilateral relationship, at a time of sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries. Through a wider network, programme participants and dialogue organisers supported constructive engagement around the Line of Control, directly channelled messages when diplomatic engagement was non-existent, and addressed misinformation and engaged in fact-checking about incidents. Crucially, the programme has supported peaceful responses, offers of state-to-state dialogue, and de-escalation in the face of a rapidly changing situation in Kashmir. The programme has also instituted confidence building measures with both human and economic impacts.
Regarding Afghanistan–Pakistan, the programme contributed to changes in visa policies for Afghan students and businesspeople travelling to Pakistan, and secured extensions for the stay of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. This work has also led to shifts in attitudes and narratives, with individual participants altering hard-line stances on issues such as the Kartarpur corridor and the role of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
With the context now significantly shifting in the region, particularly following recent events in Afghanistan, this programme of work has also provided Saferworld with an invaluable platform on which to build our regional engagement across South Asia.
The Rohingya people in Bangladesh entered their fourth year of living in Cox’s Bazar amid rising tensions between host and Rohingya communities and increased competition over resources, livelihoods and public services. It is women and girls who bear the brunt of an already difficult situation, compounded by COVID-19 and environmental emergencies. They face gender-based violence, have limited access to security and justice, and in both host and refugee communities they see authorities upholding deep-rooted patriarchal norms. Increasingly, they face restrictions on their mobility and their participation in decision-making spaces.
Building on participatory analysis we conducted, in 2021 we published research examining the gender dynamics of rising tensions within and between host and Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar, which revealed how governance structures and humanitarian interventions are, in some cases, fuelling tensions and worsening gender inequality.
The report provided recommendations for donors, governments and international bodies to ensure that the needs and voices of women and girls are prioritised in donor projects, government policy and humanitarian programming.
