Press Release: Rohingya: The Silent Genocide?

Immediate Release

Rohingya: The Silent Genocide?

21 February 2018

Oxford: This 22 Februrary (Thursday) the Oxford University Islamic Society is hosting public event titled - ‘Rohingya: The Silent Genocide?’ - Pembroke College, Oxford. 

The event will feature leading activists and scholars on the subject of Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingyas- including Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Dr Azeem Ibrahim; Burmese human rights activist and genocide scholar Maung Zarni; human rights activist and President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Tun Khin. 

The panel will address crucial issues surrounding what the United Nations call “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing’, the powerful Burmese military, and the complicity of Myanmar’s de facto leader and one of Oxford’s most iconic graduates Aung San Suu Kyi. It will also examine the stance of the West governments and UN in the face of numerous human rights crimes including crimes against humanity while exploring both short-term and long-term solutions to end Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya.

The event comes on the heel of a Channel 4 Interview with UN Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Myanmar Professor Yanghee Lee during which she stated unequivocally that Aung San Suu Kyi “cannot NOT be tried” at the International Criminal Court for her “complicity of silence” in Myanmar’s crimes against humanity and even a genocide against Rohingya people. Aung San Suu Kyi is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford University.

Oxford University Press and the Vice Chancellor’s Office have come under open criticisms for the University’s ties with Suu Kyi’s Ministry of Education and the OUP’s choice of expert, a French-educated strategic adviser to Myanmar military, on the subject of Rohingya minority. 

The panel will be chaired by Affnafee Rahman, an engineering student at St Hugh’s, Suu Kyi’s alma mater, who successfully spearheaded a campaign to remove the disgraced Burmese icon’s name from the Junior Common Room and her painting from the college hall.

Rahman said, ‘as privileged students of Oxford University, it is our moral responsibility to stand against this ongoing persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, upon Aung San Suu Kyi’s watch. And the least we can do is to formally protest against the atrocities and call out on the complicity of our alumnus. We need to educate ourselves about the persecution of Rohingya, which is an affront to any decent humans. I hope fellow Oxonians will make an effort to come and learn about what’s happening in Myanmar and what role our Burmese graduates and University, if any, are playing in this unfolding tragedy.”

Facebook Live here: https://www.facebook.com/events/579778752357477/

Contact: Affnafee Rahman affnafee.rahman@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk 

Tweet: @AffnafeeRahman