The Rohingya Refugee Crisis - Humanitarian and Political Dimensions Sam Taylor, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Haikal Mansor, Secretary General of European Rohingya Council Wednesday 7th February, 6.00 p.m., Kane Building G01, UCC

ALL WELCOME – FREE EVENT

The recent Rohingya refugee crisis has shocked the global community: more than 800,000 refugees have been forced to flee Rakhine State, Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh following a concerted campaign of violence by the Myanmar authorities since August 2017. The inaction and sense of denial over this brutality by Myanmar’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi has added to public dismay.

Many humanitarian agencies have responded to the immediate situation, but the long-term political future for the Rohingya community is unresolved. Although repatriation from Bangladesh is now being considered, most refugees are not willing to return when their safety is not guaranteed.

This public talk will address both the humanitarian and political dimensions of this contemporary refugee crisis.  

Sam Taylor, Director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Ireland, will speak about MSF’s large scale humanitarian response for newly displaced Rohingya people into Bangladesh.

Haikal Mansor is a member of the small Rohingya community in Ireland, having fled Myanmar in 2006. Recently, having previously had his application for asylum rejected, he was granted leave to remain in Ireland, and hopes to resume studies in medicine in an Irish medical school. He is general secretary of the European Rohingya Council, secretary of Carlow Integration Forum and a grassroots activist. He will give a perspective on the current situation and the historical treatment of the Rohingya community.