Thursday, October 25, 2018, 11:00 - 12:00
Maung Zarni, Leader of the Free Rohingya Coalition / Adviser to the European Center for the Study of Extremism in Cambridge, UK
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in English
"Why is Japan Silent on Rohingya?"
During her recent visit to Japan, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was questioned repeatedly on the plight of the Rohingya, a group of approximately one million Muslims from the country's west. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh amid allegations of genocide by the Myanmar military. For many, Aung San Suu Kyi's responses were evasive and unsatisfactory. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, did little to press her, presumably because of Japan's economic interests in her country.
That makes Dr. Maung Zarni's presentation at the FCCJ extremely timely. The leader of the Free Rohingya Coalition, Zarni is also an academic and a well-known campaigner for the rights of Myanmar's beleaguered minority. Michimi Muranushi, a professor of law at Gakushuin University, calls him a "rare scholar who does not stand by the tragedy he witnesses and has started an international movement against the tide of genocide in Myanmar."
Japan is a key player in the Rohingya issue. It declined to support a UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar that said its military carried out mass killings and rapes of Rohingya with "genocidal intent." The Japanese government has expressed condolences for the deaths of Myanmar's security forces but has remained largely silent on Rohingya deaths. Some of Japan's largest companies are involved in projects to develop Myanmar's economy.
Dr. Zarni is the coauthor, with Natalie Brinham, of the first-ever academic study "The Slow Burning Genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar" (Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, Spring 2014) and "Reworking the Colonial-era Indian Peril: Myanmar's State-directed Persecution of Rohingyas and Other Muslims" (The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Fall/Winter 2017).
Please reserve in advance, 3211-3161 or on the website (still & TV cameras inclusive). Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation.
Professional Activities Committee
