Standing with the Rohingya: Despite COVID 19 Crisis, Diverse Leaders Come Together to Mark Anniversary of Genocide and Mass Displacement

August 21, 2020

For More Information, Contact: Adem Carroll Adem@burmamuslims.org

Standing with the Rohingya: Despite COVID 19 Crisis, Diverse Leaders Come Together to Mark Anniversary of Genocide and Mass Displacement

In solidarity with the persecuted Rohingya Muslim Minority of Burma, diverse leaders from a variety of countries, professions, and religious communities will come together online to oppose genocide on the anniversary of the brutal mass displacement of 2017.

Despite the politicization of ethnic and Buddhist identity in Burma, leading Buddhist leaders will join the gathering, alongside Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders. This event also marks the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, an official UN observance.

“Together with our Rohingya partners, we are pleased to welcome such diverse allies and strengthen efforts to end the suffering and injustice affecting the Rohingya people,” stated Hena Zuberi, DC Programs Director of Justice for All, the home of the well-known human rights program Burma Task Force. Sr. Zuberi will serve as co-MC of the event, along with Burmese Kachin ethnic youth leader Jan Jan Maran.

Speakers will include Rohingya living displaced in exile in New Zealand, the USA, Germany, Canada, and the UK. Other voices will describe work in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, as well as efforts to confront anti-Rohingya, anti-Refugee, and anti-Muslim sentiment in Malaysia, Europe, and the USA.

“We are pleased to include Shaykh Omar Suleiman, a pre-eminent Muslim leader in the USA, but also a former head of a Holocaust Memorial Center and the former director of the Save Darfur Coalition,” added Imam Malik Mujahid, Chairman of Justice for All and founder of the Soundvision educational and media organization. “Three years is a long time in a miserable refugee camp, and despite some signs of hope, repatriation cannot happen soon.”

Imam Malik added, “we face a major challenge: to convince the U.S. government and others with influence to increase sanctions and other forms of pressure on the Burmese government, and to declare these mass atrocities a Genocide. To stop the suffering and to prevent future humanitarian disasters, we have got to show stronger determination and political will.”

To sign up to view this online rally, please register here to receive your zoom link: https://www.justiceforall.org/stopgenociderally/

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An NGO with Consultative Status at the United Nations (DPI), Justice for All is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, with staff and volunteers in Washington DC, New York, Boston, Texas and other locations. Our mission is to advocate for persecuted minorities, with current programs working on behalf of the Rohingya, the Uyghur and the Muslim minorities of India. We seek to promote a culture of human rights and to promote grassroots empowerment. www.justiceforall.org