Rohingya: Citizenship, Erasure, Belonging, and Storytelling in Health and Human Rights

Invited panelists speak to the history of the Rohingya's struggle in Myanmar, the erasure of their citizenship, protections under international law, survival, belonging, identity, and the power of storytelling. The panel will begin with a reading of the poem That’s me a Rohingya by the poet Mayyu Ali.

Fariba S. Alam is a Bangladeshi-American visual artist and creative director. She holds a B.A. in MESAS (Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies) from Columbia University, an M.A. from New York University, and is a former Fulbright Fellow in Photography (Bangladesh, Grameen Trust.

Dr. Jennifer Leigh has worked in global health, largely in the humanitarian sector, for two decades. Her recent work includes an assessment of violence against the Rohingya, a study on child marriage in humanitarian settings, an analysis of global capacity to manage outbreaks, and an evaluation of the US response to the West African Ebola outbreak.

Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, is a partner in Foley Hoag LLP's international litigation and arbitration department and chair of its Africa practice. She is a member of the team that helped The Gambia secure a provisional measures order from the ICJ instructing Myanmar to stop its genocide of the Rohingya.

Yasmin Ullah is a Rohingya social justice activist born in Northern Rakhine state of Myanmar. She formerly served as the president of the Rohingya Human Rights Network, a non-profit group led by activists across Canada in advocacy and raising public awareness of the Rohingya genocide.

Moderator: Dr. Alka Dev is an Assistant Professor of The Dartmouth Institute at the Geisel School of Medicine. She is a maternal and neonatal health expert with over 20 years of experience in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating public health projects.

Co-sponsored by The Dartmouth Institute at the Geisel School of Medicine and the War and Peace Fellows Program at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding.
Recorded April 6, 2021