A half-day conference on the worsening situation of Burma’s Rohingya minority community at Harvard Global Equity Initiative

The Harvard Global Equity Initiative is convening a half-day conference on the worsening situation of Burma’s Rohingya minority community on November 4, 2014. 

The Harvard Global Equity Initiative is convening a half-day conference on the worsening situation of Burma’s Rohingya minority community on November 4, 2014. Professor Amartya Sen, Chair of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative’s Steering Committee, will be leading the proceedings in collaboration with Felicia Knaul, Director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative. The conference serves as a follow-up to the seminar “The Future of Burma: A Panel Discussion” which was held last November and also organized by HGEI. The video of last year’s event is available here: http://vimeo.com/80141688. 

Two myths or false narratives dictate the discussion about the Rohingya plight: 1) the conflict is horizontal, sectarian and is due to lack of development in Rakhine state and 2) that communal conflicts are an unfortunate but ‘natural’ part of any multiethnic society in transitional period. The conference is timely and can be used strategically to rectify the grossly inaccurate media and policy framing of Burma’s state-sponsored persecution of Rohingya. Four panels exploring the following areas will be held: 1) historical, human rights and political perspectives, 2) Rohingya voices, 3) the right to health and essential services, and 4) developing a policy-oriented research agenda.