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PhD Candidate

Ashraful Azad is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. He completed BSS and MSS in International Relations from the University of Chittagong and MPhil in International Law from Monash University. Before starting PhD, he taught in the Department of International Relations, University of Chittagong. His experience also includes working as a UNHCR protection staff in 2011-12 and as a research consultant with Equal Rights Trust, UK in 2015 where he wrote a report on the legal status of Rohingya in Bangladesh. Ashraful’s main research interests are Rohingya refugees, irregular migration, and labour migration from Bangladesh. His PhD research focuses on the migration of Rohingya refugees between Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. He is analyzing the agency of refugees and irregular migrants using critical migration theories.

He also works as a Country of Origin Information Expert for Bangladesh enlisted with the Rights in Exile Programme (IRRI) (http://www.refugeelegalaidinformation.org/bangladesh-coi) and has provided expert reports in several asylum and migration cases in the UK and New Zealand.

Ashraful's research on the Rohingya has recently been cited by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia. The tribunal extensively relied on his 2016 report published by Equal Rights Trust on the legal status of Rohingya in Bangladesh. Feature in the UNSW newsroom: https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/rohingya-refugees-right-protection-australia-recognised

Areas of research

Rohingya refugees, irregular migration, labour migration from Bangladesh, critical migration studies

Supervisors

Andrew Byrnes, Melissa Crouch

Publications and presentations

Refereed Journal:

• Azad, A. (2019) ‘Recruitment of Migrant Workers in Bangladesh: Elements of Human Trafficking for Labour Exploitation’ Journal of Human Trafficking vol. 5, issue 2 (published online on 15 January 2018)
• Azad, A. (2017) ‘Foreigners Act and the Freedom of Movement of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh’ Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, Vol. 5, Issue 2.
• Azad, A. and Jasmin, F. (2013) ‘Durable Solutions to the Protracted Refugee Situation: the Case of Rohingyas in Bangladesh’ Journal of Indian Research, Vol.1 No. 4.
• Azad, A. and Jakea, T.A. (2013) ‘Employment and Integration of the Stateless: The case of Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar’, The Chittagong University Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. xxviii.

Report:

• Azad, A. (2016) ‘Legal status of the Rohingya in Bangladesh: refugee, stateless or status less’ in Equal Rights Trust (ed.) Confined Spaces: Legal Protections for Rohingya in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. London: Equal Rights Trust. p. 57-87.

Others (Selected):

• ‘How this pandemic is testing the limits of political community’ Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, 1 June 2020.
• ‘Stalemate leaves Rohingya refugees trapped’, The Interpreter, Lowy Institute, Sydney, 27 September 2019
• with R. Hoque ‘Rohingya refugees face hardships in Bangladesh’ D+C Development and Cooperation special issue on ‘the refugee challenge’ April 2019.
• ‘Rohingya genocide: the world can’t help until Myanmar changes its ways’, The Conversation, 11 September 2017.
• ‘Banishing refugees to a flood-prone island will not solve Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee crisis’, The Conversation, 27 March 2017.
• ‘Life in limbo: the Rohingya refugees trapped between Myanmar and Bangladesh’, The Conversation, 6 February 2017.
• ‘The ongoing genocide in Myanmar’, openDemocarcy, 3 January 2017.

Conference Presentation/Invited Speaker:

• Invited Speaker and Panelist, Regional Roundtable of Legal Practitioners on Refugee Rights in South Asia, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) (7-8 December 2019, Bangkok)
• Participant, ‘Statelessness and Citizenship Doctoral Workshop’, Melbourne Law School (20-22 November 2019)
• Invited Speaker and judge of debate session, ‘Migrant Workers in ASEAN: Ending Discrimination and Exploitation’, UNSW ASEAN Conference (Sydney, 12 October 2019)
• ‘Refugee Camp and the Introduction of New Governmentality’ at Emerging Scholars Network Annual Workshop, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney (22 November 2018)
• ‘Recruitment of Bangladeshi Migrant Workers in the UAE: Human Rights Implications’ in the conference titled ‘Borders, Migration and Sovereignty (Part 2): Is there a crisis of critique?’ at Monash University (18 March 2015)
• ‘Are Migrant Workers Modern Slaves?’ at Melbourne Doctoral Forum on Legal Theory in the Melbourne Law School (1 December 2014)

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